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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25953673">Prom Queen</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MARCHlONESS/pseuds/MARCHlONESS'>MARCHlONESS</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Taylor Swift (Musician)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, RPF, Rojascorp, Slow Burn, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama, kaylor - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:00:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>52,827</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25953673</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MARCHlONESS/pseuds/MARCHlONESS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you meet someone and it's love at first sight. Other times, there is no love to be had but a spark all the same.</p><p>Or, free-spirited and laid-back Karlie Kloss sneaks off every day at four o'clock so she can snog Taylor Swift, the most popular girl in school, and her regular tormentor.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ashley Benson/Cara Delevigne, Joe Alwyn &amp; Taylor Swift, Joe Alwyn/Taylor Swift, Karlie Kloss/Taylor Swift, Lena Luthor/Andrea Rojas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>92</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Four O'Clock</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Her scuffed-up, hand-me-down Nikes padded across the linoleum floor to her locker. Her bag loosely hung from her shoulder, the music blasting from her earphones blocking out the raucous laughter of the horde of cheerleaders gliding down the hallway. They floated behind Taylor Swift, head cheerleader and by far the most insufferable girl Karlie had ever met, and that included Ros Dummel, who always criticized her drawings back in elementary school.</p><p>The girl in question stopped in her tracks at the sight of Karlie, her blonde ponytail almost whipping her in the face. She eyed her up and down, the chilling sight of her hardened blue eyes forever imprinted into Karlie's mind, and turned to Selena, one of her most loyal sycophants, and whispered something to the other girl, who howled and cackled as though it was the most amusing thing she had ever heard.</p><p>"Fuck off, Taylor," Karlie grumbled as she slammed her locker door. "I don't need your shit today."</p><p>"Oh, please, I have better things to do than bother with you. Baby," was the snide reply, treated to a smattering of snickers and giggles.</p><p>Taylor gave her a smoldering look that to her friends seemed as though she were trying to burn the other girl to death with her eyes, but Karlie knew better. There was a hidden message behind Taylor's actions, a private insinuation that was for Karlie's ears and eyes only.</p><p>And she loved it.</p><p>It was an arrangement that had started three months ago. Karlie had been hiding out under the bleachers after an excruciatingly slow day at school, a clumsily rolled joint dangling from her lips as she paged through her History homework. The words were barely registering as she swept back light brown waves every couple of minutes, regretting giving Adana her last and only hair tie.</p><p>Cara had ditched her for Ashley once again, so she was left alone to sit through the generic pop blasting from the cheerleaders' rehearsal. She had only just finished her homework when she heard the obnoxious clacking of heels (who does a cheerleading routine in heels?) across the concrete, heading in her direction.</p><p>It came as no surprise to Karlie to find that it was none other than Taylor Swift, head cheerleader, and the epitome of everything Karlie despised about high school, especially high school girls. Rich, preppy high school girls who went in for the kill the second they smelled blood. Who would kiss your cheek and smile at you one day and stick their nose up at you the next.</p><p>Except, Taylor had never even bothered to be nice to Karlie. She wasn't rich enough or popular enough for Taylor to pretend to care about her, she had nothing to offer her. Karlie was treated to crude remarks every day, courtesy of Taylor, and her giggling gang of groupies that worshipped her as though she had personally hung the stars in the sky. And given the way she sauntered around the school, posture perfect and nose in the air, it seemed as though she believed she did too.</p><p>It never extended beyond teasing verbiage nor the occasional glance and she saw no reason as to why it should start now. She did not know what Taylor wanted from her, given that she was alone and Taylor's jabs at Karlie, or anyone for that matter, usually required a full house. But from the steely glint in her ice-blue chips, Karlie had inferred that this was not a social calling.</p><p>"So, that's what that rank smell was," she sneered as she came closer. "I should have known it was you. What's the matter, Karlie? Too stoned to talk, baby?"</p><p>Maybe it was because she was annoyed at Cara for ditching her, or because she was mad at Mrs. Waldemine for assigning fifty calculus questions due next class as if she didn't have anything better to do or maybe it was because Taylor had supposedly succeeded in her mission to completely break Karlie's spirit, but the tall brunette snapped and her initially uncaring tone turned into that of a snarl. Everything she felt since she had first met Taylor, everything she despised about her pretentious, obnoxious, self-absorbed, spiteful demeanor came pouring out in a steady stream of hot, molten lava, wreaking havoc, and destruction everywhere it flowed.</p><p>"You know what, princess? Fuck you. Everyone else kisses your ass and tells you that you're great and you'll have everything you want, and you probably will. You'll pass with flying colors, go to college, and get a secretarial diploma. You'll be hired to work for some millionaire lawyer or politician thirty years older than you, but it won't be because of your brain, that's for sure. You'll live in a big house and be president of the PTA and you'll lounge around your pool and abuse your housekeeper on a daily basis."</p><p>"Your kids will go to some fancy boarding school and they'll grow up to be wealthy politicians and everything you want will be handed to you on a silver platter. But you know what? You won't have a single genuine relationship in your life. Your husband will only be with you for your looks and when those fade, he'll be gone without a trace, your kids will probably love the nanny more than you, your friends on the PTA will bitch about you behind your back and your gym friends wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire. You may have money and looks and popularity, but you couldn't even count on one hand the number of genuine friends you actually have," Karlie spat.</p><p>It was like watching a summer storm roll into town. Karlie could see the sun slipping away as a swarm of black clouds slithered into Taylor's eyes. She could hear the low rumbling of thunder in every sharp breath and restrained snarl Taylor took and she saw the lightning in every cracking movement she made. It took Karlie barely a second to register that she may have pushed Taylor too far, as malevolent in and she knew she was done for. Her high school life was over and now she would either die a hero, unwilling to take back her words or cower under Taylor's scowl.</p><p>"You know absolutely nothing about me," she hissed, a perfectly manicured finger stabbing into Karlie's chest. "You think that you're not like other girls, you walk around here like you're better than everyone else because you don't care about school or life. You're a lazy, arrogant stoner and you're the biggest hypocrite in this school."</p><p>Taylor was close enough now for Karlie to see the light sparkling of... were those tears in her eyes? She prayed they were not. Taylor's cheeks were tinted a dark pink, flushed with rage. To this day, Karlie still couldn't remember who moved in first. Taylor? She was eighty percent sure it was Taylor. All she could recall was the taste of strawberry lip gloss and the feeling of soft clouds drifting against her lips. That feeling dissipated within three seconds as she felt Taylor's grasping desperately at her shirt.</p><p>Taylor pulled back, her hair mussed from Karlie's gentle tugs and her usually powder-blue orbs tinted midnight, darkened by... lust? Anger? Both, Karlie assumed. "Karlie-" Taylor growled but her ruminations were interrupted by Karlie reconnecting their lips with an unfathomable urgency.</p><p>There was nothing sweet or romantic about their kiss. It wasn't anything like in fairytales, or movies, where the lovers look into each other's eyes and move in slowly, tentatively, gently. No. It was desperate and rough and frantic.</p><p>There may not have been any love songs playing in the background, or soft rain wetting their cheeks but there were most definitely fireworks when they touched, explosive and vivid and deafening. There was no time nor opportunity to process what had just occurred before Taylor had disconnected again, loosening her hold on Karlie's shirt.</p><p>When Taylor pulled away for the second time, her bold red lipstick smeared all over both her face and Karlie's too, the other girl worried that Taylor had a vastly different reaction, or that any moment, Selena or Abigail were going to jump out from behind with their iPhones and her entire life would be over.</p><p>"I hate you so much, you asshole," Taylor panted, her eyes locked onto Karlie's lips. "Meet me behind the school at four tomorrow, under the old oak."</p><p>"Fuck you, Taylor," Karlie replied, equally out-of-breath. "I'll see you tomorrow."</p><p>She absolutely hated Taylor Swift, that much was clear. But Karlie would be lying if she said that kissing Taylor hadn't felt indescribably amazing. And she and Taylor still hated each other three months later, even if they took the occasional (read: near-daily) moment to pause and make out under the bleachers. And even now, it still took Karlie to another galaxy and back, all in the smallest ways, like how Taylor's tongue swiped against her bottom lip when she was feeling particularly desperate and Karlie was being a tease, the way she tugged at Karlie's hair when she wanted Karlie to go harder.</p><p>And, for now, at least, Karlie was okay with that.</p><p>So when Taylor gave her one last quick smirk- briefly pausing to let her eyes roam over Karlie's body appreciatively, because she may hate the girl, but she most certainly did not hate Karlie's toned arms or shapely legs- Karlie fumbled around in her pocket for that vanilla flavored lip gloss she knew Taylor had a certain predilection for and set off for English, counting down the minutes until it was four o'clock.</p><p>After school and under the bleachers may have been how their illicit affair began but then the stress of cheerleading practice, homework, family members, annoying students, and general afflictions meant that barely a month into this tryst, Taylor was asking Karlie to meet her in the morning too, and the taller girl was all too comfortable obliging. That was where she found herself presently, arms lazily wrapped Taylor as she finished fixing her lip gloss. </p><p>"For fuck's sake, Karlie, I told you not to leave a mark," the cheerleader hissed as she pulled out her compact mirror and examined her neck. "Can't you do anything right?"</p><p>"I was certainly doing something right when you kept begging me not to stop. You know, for such an alpha bitch, you're certainly pretty submissive when it comes to sex," Karlie retorted.</p><p>"We are not having sex, Karlie. Don't get this confused."</p><p>"I wasn't confused, but you seemed to be given how frequently your hands seemed to be slipping down to my jeans."</p><p>"Shut up. I have cheerleading practice later and I'll have this hideous mark on my neck. All because you needed to show off. I hate you," Taylor seethed.</p><p>"Hey, if this isn't working out, we can just call the whole thing quits, Princess. Martha Hunt from the Home Ec club asked me if I would be interested in sampling her cupcakes and I'm not exactly inclined to decline," Karlie offered. "It seems like her cupcakes would taste amazing in my mouth..."</p><p>Taylor barely let the words leave Karlie's mouth before she shut the other girl up with a particularly lustful kiss, frantic and passionate as she bit Karlie's lower lip and pulled her in close, her arms wrapped around Karlie's lower back. The latter was quick to reciprocate Taylor's affections with a groan and a vigorous swipe at Taylor's bottom lip, asking for access, only for Taylor to pull away with a cheeky grin and Karlie's lip-gloss on her face.</p><p>"Asshole," Karlie grumbled.</p><p>"Be here at four today. You will regret it if you're late, Karlie. Plenty of people here want to sample my cupcakes too and I'm not one for second chances," Taylor said with a smirk as she opened the car door.</p><p>Very few things could get Karlie Kloss to drag herself to school forty minutes before she actually needed to be there, but Taylor Swift's sultry gaze and haughty attitude could pull her to the back of the school, her ute parked in the deserted lot and her lips glued to the cheerleader's neck in thirteen minutes flat.</p><p>She still had a while before the first bell and plenty of gas in the ute. It was seven-fifty and Nashville was golden and glowing, a hazy orange hue cast over the city, a light mist dispersed in between gaps of amber and saffron. It was alluring, the shining skyline, and the tall buildings that stretched far into the vast expanse of sky.</p><p>Turning the key in the ignition, Karlie drove out of the car park and out of the school, angling for a coffee before her first class. Taylor had most definitely snapped her out of her sleepy, dazed stupor by crashing into her the second she stepped into the ute, but there was something inexplicably refreshing about a long black that compelled Karlie to drive to the nearest McDonald's and treat herself to a coffee and a donut.</p><p>As she fumbled around for her purse, which had slid off the passenger seat and onto the floor, she noticed that Taylor's light blue scarf, which had been very eagerly disposed of by Karlie, was lying limp on the floor. It smelled distinctly of Taylor's expensive Chanel perfume and stood out against the faint scent of petrol and pine that permeated the air. She picked it up gently and hung it over the seat, only for a loud, obviously fake cough to remind Karlie that she was holding up the queue and needed to pay. Apologizing profusely, Karlie handed over her debit card as she reached for her meal.</p><p>Karlie opted against telling Taylor that she had found her scarf on the car floor, as being the pampered drama queen that she was, she knew that the head cheerleader would probably insist that Karlie pay to have it dry-cleaned, which the latter had no interest in doing. If she was so disgusted by the idea of her expensive, thousand-dollar scarf scrunched up on the floor of Karlie's ute like a take-out wrapper, then she could pay for it to be dry-cleaned herself. She could afford it, after all, unlike Karlie.</p><p>On the drive back to school, Karlie sipped her coffee as she watched the marigold sky slowly transform into an endless stretch of silver and teal. The low thrum of the tired heater in the car kept her warm, and kept the thought of Taylor's body, lithe and soft, draped in a Guess sweater and pressed up against her, in her mind. How silky her lips felt dancing across her neck and how her arms wrapped around Karlie, needy, and consuming. That was something that perplexed Karlie- for as aggressive and snarky that she was as a person and for how domineering and animalistic she could be when they touched, Taylor at times, truly was the most gentle, soothing lover Karlie had ever been with.</p><p>No, not lover. That word could not have possibly been used to describe her relationship with Taylor and she knew for a fact that if she ever referred to the girl as such, she would be run out of school faster than she could say 'sorry'.</p><p>She pulled into the parking lot and grabbed her bag, her donut, and Taylor's scarf. She knew that Taylor would be in the library, poring over a book about... whatever it was that Taylor would deem worthy of her time. Cheerleading? Fashion? Cattiness? Being rich?</p><p>There she was, sat in the same low-cut purple sweater that had teased and taunted Karlie earlier, her makeup reapplied flawlessly and her hair restyled in an attempt to cover up the blemish that Karlie had branded onto her neck earlier. She looked up at Karlie, her eyes immediately shooting daggers that said, 'don't you dare come near me, we are in an open space'. Karlie, being used to Taylor's dramatics, even in a room with no one but the school's seventy-six-year-old librarian, simply rolled her eyes as she marched over to her.</p><p>"Hey, princess," Karlie purred in a mocking tone as she sauntered over to Taylor, twirling the scarf around like a baton. "You left this in my car, baby. I didn't realize that you were so distracted by me. How did you ever make your way to the library on your own?"</p><p>"Keep your voice down," chastised Taylor, snatching the scarf out of Karlie's hands. "And give me that."</p><p>"Oh, for fuck's sake, Taylor, nobody is here except for Mrs. Mirren and she couldn't even hear the fire alarm last term. Besides, for someone who always insists that I should be quiet, you get fairly loud yourself."</p><p>"I do not!" Taylor snapped, her cheeks turning a dark shade of crimson.</p><p>"Ohhhh, Karlie! Karlie! Keep going! Don't stop! Right there! Karlie! Ohhh!"</p><p>When Taylor's book, Wuthering Heights, hit Karlie's torso (thankfully a paperback), the taller girl knew it was time to stop before she hit a nerve. Taylor's eyes were stormy and obsidian in color, and Karlie knew that if she ever wanted to hear Taylor make those noises again, and let's be honest, she did, she knew that it would be best to leave the cheerleader alone before the daggers in her eyes ended up in her side.</p><p>Even if the thought of attending to Taylor in one of the shelves and making her cheeks flush with red and her eyes cloud over for a very different reason was highly entertaining.</p><p>"I'll see you at four tomorrow," Karlie said, a large grin on her face as she backed out of the library, chucking Taylor's book back onto the table.</p><p>"You don't know that." Taylor replied, not even bothering to look up.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, I do, Princess. And you do too."</p><p>The furious, hateful, absolutely smoldering look that Taylor gave her, eyes like unpierceable fragments of ice, like the block that sank the Titanic, menacing and foreboding remained with Karlie for the rest of the day and all the way until four tomorrow, when Karlie's ute was parked under a tree at the back of the school, with Taylor on her lap and her arms snaked around her torso.</p><p>It was a hazy, undefined mess of a relationship, undercut by hatred, pride, and aggression but fueled by lust, desire, and somewhere under it all, a begrudging almost respect for each other and an intimate knowledge of each other's bodies that nobody else did.</p><p>And for now, that was enough.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. You Don't Say You Love Me, You Just Bite Your Lip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>And they say romance is dead...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Are you okay, Karlie? You seem distracted and you are never distracted during Comp Sci," Cara asked, leaning in next to her friend. "It's like, the one subject you're good at."</p><p>"I'm not distracted, shut up," Karlie replied.</p><p>"Fuck, are you high? I thought we were saving that stash for after school tonight?"</p><p>"No, I'm not high, and keep your voice down. Do you want us getting turned in? And we need to save that stash for some other time because I'm busy tonight."</p><p>"What the fuck, Karlie? We had plans!" Cara groaned, a little too loudly for Karlie's liking, as Cara's ire drew stares from classmates.</p><p>"Oh, like you haven't cancelled on me a bajillion times so you can go fuck Ashley," Karlie replied with a roll of her jade eyes. "Jesus, it's only two?"</p><p>"Now I know for sure that something's up with you. You would never complain about being in Comp Sci for a double period."</p><p>"I just... have something on..." Karlie said.</p><p>It wasn't that Karlie didn't necessarily trust Cara and her other friends nor was it that she was particularly ashamed of Taylor. It was more so that Taylor and her group of grovelers epitomized everything that Karlie's friends hated. Karlie didn't care about the opinions of many people, but she did privately care about what Cara, Elaine, and Joshua thought of her. If they knew that she was sneaking around with someone her friend group perceived to be Public Enemy Number One then it would most certainly cause a rift, especially given how catty Taylor and her friends had been to them all in the past, and even in the present now.</p><p>Taylor had similar reasons for wanting to keep their relationship quiet. Taylor was superficial and vain and the type of person who saw someone's social standing as their defining feature. And Karlie, being as low on the food chain as she was would have been a major downgrade for Taylor. So, really, it worked for both of them to keep their relationship secret.</p><p>"You've had something on for several weeks now. What's going on?" Cara asked.</p><p>"Nothing!"</p><p>"You're lying to me. Your eyebrows quirk when you lie, and they look like squiggly lines right now. Squiggle. Squiggle. Squiggle."</p><p>"Are you high right now?" Karlie countered.</p><p>"Don't change the subject, Karlie. What's going on?"</p><p>"I'm... tutoring someone. A new transfer student in the year below," Karlie lied.</p><p>"You? Rebellious Karlie Taylor in detention every week? Smoking joints under the bleachers? Always late to class? You're tutoring someone?"</p><p>"Well, I need the extra credit to pass, so yeah, I agreed," Karlie replied with a shrug of her shoulders.</p><p>"Who are you tutoring? Are they cute?"</p><p>"Cara! You're seeing Ashley!"</p><p>"Yeah, I know. I'm not asking for me, I'm asking for you."</p><p>"It's irrelevant, I'm not interested in a relationship."</p><p>"You could at least hook up with them, get something casual happening," Cara suggested.</p><p>"Cara, I'm really not interested in seeing anyone right now. I have bigger things to focus on, you know that. I really need a part-time job," Karlie said, turning back to her work, signaling the end of the conversation.</p><p>She didn't know why Cara's comment had set her off so much, she was her best friend and she did have a point. Karlie's relationship with Taylor was purely physical, with no emotional attachment. Taylor looked down on her, believed her to be a lazy stoner and hated practically anyone with a bank account that wasn't in the hundreds of thousands whilst Karlie found Taylor to be repulsively stuck-up and arrogant. Perhaps a more intimate arrangement would benefit Karlie but for the time being, her liaison with Taylor was sufficient in relieving Karlie of her stress, and Taylor of hers.</p><p>"They're hiring at Jake's Auto Chop Shop if you're interested," Cara suggested, sensing her friend's defensiveness. "You like cars, you could get into that."</p><p>"What exactly are they looking for?"</p><p>"Just an apprentice, someone to maintain the store, do some basic fix-it work. Seems right up your alley, but I don't think you can rock up to work stoned."</p><p>"Thanks, Cara," Karlie said quietly with a smile. "I'll look into that."</p><p>For as much as Cara got under her skin, she truly had no better friend in life than her. Friends since elementary school, when a then bespectacled Cara Boucher was asked by Karlie if she wanted to play Harry Potter with her. From there developed a friendship akin to Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, from the first Halloween where they were allowed to trick-or-treat by themselves to their first confusing day of middle school together to now, working together or, in Cara's case, pretending to work whilst actually completing Art homework. Cara knew her better than anyone and she always looked out for her best interests.</p><p>Which made Karlie feel ten times worse for keeping up this lie.</p><p>"No problem, Kar. I-"</p><p>"Miss Delevingne? Miss Kloss? Something you would like to share with the class?" Miss Kaylor asked. </p><p>"No, Ma'am," they said in unison and promptly kept quiet for the rest of the lesson. </p><p>When the bell finally rang for the final time that day, Karlie nearly dropped her laptop in her haste to reach Taylor. Cara gave her a quizzical look, as did a couple of other students in her class but she did not notice nor care. </p><p>"Hey, wait up!" Cara called out, traipsing behind Karlie. "What's the rush, Kar?"</p><p>"No rush," Karlie replied. "Just don't want to be in this hellhole any longer."</p><p>"Fair enough. I'll meet you at your locker in five?" </p><p>For a brief moment, Karlie was about to say yes until she saw Taylor gliding through the hall. The other girl made eye contact with her hastily, affection disguised as a glare before sauntering away, and Karlie remembered she had plans. "Sorry, I can't tonight. Got to pick up Nan from bingo right now." </p><p>"No problem. See you later."</p><p>The second Karlie turned around, small droplets of guilt began rolling off her forehead. That's the thing about illicit affairs, it was one falsehood after another. Even the smallest, most minor details needed to be accounted for and lied about. Karlie did not know how she was physically capable of lying to her friends so frequently. If she did not assume it to be commonplace for Taylor, she perhaps would have asked how Taylor coped with the situation. </p><p>Taylor had cheerleading practice today, so Karlie's usual waiting period was generally spent in the library. Sometimes, she would drive around Nashville, maybe stop off for a coffee or a quick jog around the park. And given that she had told Cara that she needed to pick up her grandmother today, she would need to leave the school. Today would be a pleasant day for a run whilst she waited for Taylor- and it would take her mind off Cara too. </p><p>The moment Karlie saw the last pair of cheerleaders leave, she made her way over to Taylor. Naturally, the head cheerleader refused to even acknowledge her existence until she was absolutely certain they would not be seen by anyone. Still, that absolutely did not prevent her from surreptitiously staring at Karlie every few moments as the taller girl rolled her eyes and waited for Taylor's suspicions to subside. </p><p>"I don't think the custodian will care if she sees us kissing, Taylor. Rose has worked here for like, thirty years, she's seen it all before." </p><p>"Karlie," she sneered. "Meet me in five minutes."</p><p>"I don't know, Princess. I'd love to but there's this hot girl who wants to make out with me behind the school. So, I'm going to see her now." </p><p>"You are not funny, Karlie," Taylor hissed. "Don't keep me waiting." </p><p>The pair had once again sequestered themselves in front of the school in the now deserted parking lot with Taylor pressed up against the cool brick of the office building, feeling too euphoric to care about how tousled her loose curls had become. Prior commitments had left their rendezvous delayed, so they now sat basking in the pinkish hues of a sky fading to black, not that it mattered to them. When Taylor and Karlie were together, all they cared about was their own leisure.</p><p>"Karlie," Taylor whined softly as the latter nipped at her pulse point. "Faster. Harder- oh, fuck you!"</p><p>Karlie withdrew her mouth with a cheeky smile, begging for Taylor for a response to her provocation as she spoke. "Oh, you wanted me to do more? You were so quiet, I didn't realize."</p><p>Taylor's response was an immediate tug at Karlie's hair as she reconnected their lips. Karlie could tell by the way the other girl was immediate and frenzied in the way she sank her pearly-white teeth into Karlie's soft blossom lips and moaned into the contact before pulling away.</p><p>"Take me to your car," Taylor ordered, her breath hot on Karlie's ear as her right-hand lifted Karlie's shirt, a sole finger tracing her abdomen. "I want to be closer to you."</p><p>"You know," Karlie teased. "For someone who seemed to absolutely hate my car the first time you saw it, you seem to be pretty accustomed to it."</p><p>"Will you shut the fuck up before I change my mind and ditch? I could do a lot better than you, FYI, but we all know that you've hit your peak with me," Taylor gloated with a flip of her hair and her nose in the air.</p><p>"How do we all know this? Nobody else knows we're screwing around unless I'm so good you couldn't resist telling people about how good I am. How breathless you become around me, how much you can't stop kissing me. How completely irresistible you find me," purred Karlie, her hands traveling up Taylor's blouse.</p><p>"Karlie, it is freezing out here," Taylor asserted, firmly removing Karlie's wandering hands from her body. "If you want to go there, we are getting in your car first and turning the heater on."</p><p>"But I can go there, right?"</p><p>"Go and get the fucking car, Karlie before I walk off on you right now."</p><p>"B-but it's f-f-freezing out here."</p><p>Taylor turned on her heel and began to walk away. She was slow and precise in her movement, deliberately calling Karlie's attention to the calculated sway of her hips in her fitted black pencil skirt as her golden hair cascaded down her back and gently moved in time with the rest of her body.</p><p>Karlie's reaction was delayed as Taylor strutted away. Her mouth was agape and the pupils in her glossy emerald eyes were dilated. She was used to that walk; it was Taylor's signature walk that she used when she wanted to part the corridors and remind everyone who was in charge at William Bowen Campbell High School. Usually, whenever Karlie saw it, she rolled her eyes and walked away, not caring enough to become entangled in whatever power play Taylor was demonstrating to the school on that particular day.</p><p>But this- this was something new. For all the instances Karlie had seen Taylor sashay down the halls, flanked by adoring lackeys on each side, she had only ever seen the front of Taylor's daily parade through the locker bay. Never before had she seen Taylor moving from behind, knowingly slow, and definitely aware of Karlie's eyes lapping up the view.</p><p>"Wait, Taylor," Karlie called out, finally remembering how to speak once more. "I-I found the keys in my pocket, I'll go start the car right now."</p><p>"Good girl," was Taylor's reply as she turned around to face Karlie with a growing smirk on her face.</p><p>Godfuckingdamnit.</p><p>Karlie Taylor did not think that she was the type of person to enjoy being called 'good girl' but if anyone would be able to impart such an idiosyncrasy unto her, it would most certainly be resident mean girl Taylor Swift and her headache-inducing signature smirk.</p><p>Taylor hated Karlie's ute. It was old and cheap, with the red paint peeling off the doors and the sheepskin seat covers worn-down and tired. One had to fiddle with the radio for at least three minutes before they could hear the radio and there was no in-between when it came to the AC and the heating. It was either the Sahara Desert or the Arctic whenever it was switched on in the car.</p><p>Karlie, in one of her more scathing moments, had suggested on one occasion that if Taylor hated being in her ute so much then the cheerleader should let Karlie kiss her in her luxury sports car instead. The short blonde had nearly shoved Karlie out of her own Holden at that comment, informing the other girl in no uncertain terms that she would never let her step foot in her Porsche, lest she leave a permanent smell of weed and dirt in it. Given the furious stare Taylor had thrown at her, coupled with a 'shut up' made Karlie feel as though perhaps she had pushed her too far, only to be very happily proven wrong when Taylor clambered atop her lap thirty seconds later.</p><p>This time was barely different. The heating that Taylor had so brusquely requested earlier had been switched off after no more than two minutes into their tryst, with Taylor recovering from the biting chill of the cold Nashville air by seeking solace in Karlie's arms, planted firmly on her lap.</p><p>Their lips had barely left each other's face since stepping into the car. Karlie's hands had slid up Taylor's blouse, her nimble fingers working at unbuckling the cheerleader's bra as Taylor's hands traced shapes onto Karlie's back over her cotton shirt.</p><p>"Fuck, your fingers are cold," Taylor complained.</p><p>"Does that mean you want me to stop?" Karlie replied, already fully aware of the answer.</p><p>"No."</p><p>"Then stop complaining about my fingers. You're the one who wanted the heater off."</p><p>Karlie reconnected her lips to Taylor's neck as the latter's hands worked at tugging Karlie's shirt over her head without interrupting the precise manner in which Karlie was palming at her chest and nipping at her neck. Karlie removed one hand from Taylor's upper torso, aiming to unbutton her shirt. She had only somewhat successfully undone the first two buttons and was clumsily working on a third when Taylor hastily removed her hands from her chest.</p><p>"Too far?" Karlie asked, immediately retracting.</p><p>"No, not that, look," Taylor said, frantically pointing at the window behind Karlie's head.</p><p>Karlie whipped her head around to see a grey SUV, no doubt belonging to one of the high school's resident PTA mothers was trudging into the car park. A Volkswagen and a mini Cooper trailed behind, with the faint outline of more cars up the road.</p><p>"Oh, motherfuck. I forgot it's the night of the PTA meeting," Taylor groaned, throwing her head back into the head seat, though not in the way Karlie was aiming for. "I have to get out of here right fucking now before someone sees me like this!"</p><p>"Let me drive you home," Karlie offered.</p><p>"Absolutely not," came the stern reply.</p><p>"Well, how else do you intend on getting home? I don't see your car anywhere and I know that you're too much of a weakling to walk home on your own precious feet and too much of a princess to share an UberPool, like a commoner," Karlie quipped.</p><p>It was moments like this, when their standard sniping morphed into playful banter that Karlie briefly forgot that she hated Taylor and that she thought the girl was the devil incarnate. She felt like, underneath it all, there would be a vying chance for something more than 'enemies who kiss each other'.</p><p>But then Taylor opened her mouth and said something indisputably horrible about Karlie, or another student or she and one of her friends said something awful to someone and suddenly the moment had passed by and Karlie could not feel more relieved that she and Taylor were nothing more than just that.</p><p>"I'll call Selena. She lives in the area. I'll tell her that my car is in the shop and my ride home bailed. She'll help me."</p><p>"Or, you could save yourself some time and energy and just let me drive you home," Karlie said, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.</p><p>"Why do you want to drop me off? Trying to stalk me, are you?"</p><p>"No, I just figured that you would be, ah, extra thankful for my devotion and chivalry."</p><p>"Ugh, that's it," Taylor said, opening the car door. "I can't stand being with you for a second longer."</p><p>Karlie couldn't help but laugh at how utterly debauched Taylor looked. Her hair was mussed, her eyes were dark, her blouse was buttoned up incorrectly and her crimson lipstick was smeared all over her face, not to mention the trail and blue and purple hickeys dotted on her neck and extending to her collarbone. There was no way Taylor would willingly explain this to her best friend, she would die of embarrassment before she even finished the sentence.</p><p>"Taylor, let me take you home," Karlie offered once more, her tone much lighter this time as more cars pulled up to the school.</p><p>"No," was the final, stubborn answer.</p><p>"Fine," Karlie said with a roll of her eyes. "Have it your way then, Princess."</p><p>She drove off on Taylor without a second thought, leaving the other girl standing alone in the car park, looking depraved and debased as she hastily rebuttoned her shirt and wiped the red lipstick off her face before one of the PTA mothers could drag her to the little church on the corner and make her say 'hail Mary' until the sun burned out of the sky. She didn't care about driving Taylor home.</p><p>She had better things to do anyway.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A Little Sweet, A Little Selfish</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hey, Nanna!" Karlie called out, closing the door behind her. "I got the job at the mechanic's place! I start next Saturday."</p><p>Far away from Taylor Swift's boastful property, Karlie and her grandmother lived in a much smaller home, a red brick townhouse with a white porch brightened by a wide array of potted plants. There was no Italian marble nor Olympic swimming pool to speak of, instead a vintage yellow fridge took pride and place in the Taylor household. Knitted blankets and crocheted tea cozies were scattered about the house amidst a flurry of tattered, torn books.</p><p>"Karlie," her grandmother replied. "I'm in the kitchen, tell me everything."</p><p>Karlie rounded the corner into the kitchen, only for her cheerful demeanor to dissipate when she saw what her grandmother was doing. "Stella Rue Kloss! You know exactly what the doctor said about-"</p><p>"I know, I know," Stella replied, raising a pair of veiny, blanched hands with light chocolate smudges on them. "No cake, no chocolate, no sugar."</p><p>"I'm testing your blood sugar. Don't give me that look, you know what you did."</p><p>"It was only a little slice of chocolate cake, Karlie. Rose brought a massive cake into the senior's center for Sophia's birthday and she had so much left over afterward, it would have been rude not to accept a portion."</p><p>"Nanna, you need to take care of yourself. You were lucky before but if something happens you might-"</p><p>"Don't say it, Karlie. I am fully aware of that and so are you," Stella reprimanded sternly, wagging a finger.</p><p>"You're all I have left, Nanna," Karlie said quietly, moving to embrace the other woman.</p><p>"I know," Stella replied. "And I'm sorry. I promise, I am not leaving you and I will do better to make sure that I don't. You're all I have left too."</p><p>"I love you, Nan."</p><p>"I love you too, Karlie. Why don't you have the rest of my cake?"</p><p>Karlie could only smile.</p><p>She took the rest of the cake up to her bedroom, save for a slice she had left for Cara tomorrow. She had an English assignment due but she figured that could wait until the wee hours of the night when she was drowning in coffee, like a regular highschooler. </p><p>*</p><p>The next day when Karlie woke up, the first thing she noticed was that she had slept through her alarm. A rarity for her but that's what happened when one stayed up all night looking at pretty prom dresses on Pinterest. Her English teacher would understand, it was not the first time this had happened. But when she finished up in the shower and trodded downstairs, she found her usually chirpy grandmother lying flat on the sofa. </p><p>"Nan?" Karlie asked. "Are you alright?"</p><p>"I'm okay," Stella replied. Just feeling a little woozy, dear."</p><p>"Nan, are you sure that-"</p><p>"I'm old, Karlie. It happens. You're late for school now, so I need you to be on your way. Aspirin will take care of this and then some light exercise at the centre will clear my mind. Now you should go unless you want to see me in my snazzy jazzercise getup."</p><p>"Okay, I'm going," Karlie laughed. "Bye, Nan. Have fun at the centre." </p><p>Stella waved Karlie out the door no less than fifteen minutes later, to Karlie's private worry. The older woman seemed cheery enough as Karlie departed but she knew her grandmother would go to significant lengths to keep Karlie calm. Because she would do the same for Stella. As Karlie trudged into the empty school doors, she found herself unable to keep Stella out of her mind. Her grandmother had insisted she was okay, but that was standard for Stella. She never wanted Karlie to worry. Still, a distraction was needed, and a distraction soon came. </p><p>"Again, Miss Kloss? Are we trying to break a record here?" Gisele asked. "Because you still have forty more mornings to go before you're on par with Last-Minute Louis." </p><p>"Well, I'm hoping that I get a catchier nickname when I kick him to the kerb," Karlie chuckled as she signed in. </p><p>"We'll call you Captive Karlie because if you're late even one more time, you will be in detention," Nina warned before Karlie left. </p><p>Taylor was lurking in the corners, watching with an unmistakable smirk on her face as Karlie was reprimanded by the receptionist for being late yet again. As soon as Nina turned back to her computer, Karlie skulked by a snickering Taylor.</p><p>"Late again? What, were you off wasting even more of your life with a joint in your mouth?"</p><p>"Aww, did you miss me, baby? Miss my fingers? My lips?" Karlie teased.</p><p>"Fuck off, you lazy, arrogant piece of work before I-"</p><p>"Miss Swift? Miss Kloss? Is there any reason as to why you're both still here when you should be in class? Perhaps I should inform Mister Archer, he's just down the hall. Then you could both socialize in detention?"</p><p>"Miss Garcia," Taylor purred in a saccharine tone, using her classic suck-up voice. "I'm sure that won't be necessary. Both you and our esteemed principal have far more important work to do, I'm sure, as the backbone of our entire school."</p><p>Nina glared at her.</p><p>"You both have five seconds to scurry along out of here before I march into Mister Archer's office and let him know that you two have volunteered to scrape gum off the bleachers after school," she warned.</p><p>Taylor whimpered and the pair moved along without another word.</p><p>It was in the fourth period when Karlie was sitting next to Elaine, both of them focused more on who they thought would win the play-offs more than the frog they were supposed to be dissecting when Nina walked into the room, a solemn expression on her face. She walked over to Miss John and whispered in her ear before approaching Karlie, earlier tones of admonishment gone as she spoke.</p><p>"Karlie," she said in a low tone. "There's been an emergency and you need to come with me right away."</p><p>Karlie didn't question it, but a million thoughts raced in her head. Was it her grandmother? Her father? Tay- no, there is no way in hell she would be Taylor's emergency contact. Elaine gave her a small wave, a concerned frown on her face as Karlie walked away, trailing behind Nina.</p><p>"I'm so sorry, Karlie," Nina said, and she sounded like she genuinely meant it. "We got a call from the senior's center, your grandmother was feeling a little ill and lightheaded, one of the workers there took her blood pressure and before they were able to get it down, she collapsed and they've taken her to the hospital where she's being monitored now."</p><p>The world had stopped in its tracks. Nina strode ahead, the loud clacking of her Louboutin stilettos fading into the distance as her words reverberated in Karlie's head. She had assumed that perhaps a feeling of guilt would accompany her train of thought, given how she had left her home alone despite knowing that she was feeling off-color. She thought she would feel stressed, or worried and to be fair, she was, but overall, she just felt empty. Karlie was no stranger to loss, she had her entire life turned upside-down in a matter of seconds, but Stella was her source of strength, her protector. Losing her would mean that Karlie would have lost everyone.</p><p>She didn't know how she would cope.</p><p>Nina was sympathetic and thus told Karlie that she would fill out Karlie's early leave paperwork in order for her to get to the hospital quicker, for which the young girl was thankful and promised to not be late anymore. "Don't make promises you can't keep," was Nina's reply, her attempt at comforting Karlie.</p><p>Upon her arrival at the hospital, Karlie frantically introduced herself to the receptionist, explaining who she was.</p><p>"From what we can see, there is no surgery required. As far as we can tell, this is an isolated incident, brought on by a surge of tiredness and bad dieting," Doctor Kieran said briskly. "We've induced a prolonged unconsciousness in her just in case something occurs, but at this rate, there is no cause for concern, but she will need some lifestyle adjustments. If you want, you can see her."</p><p>"Thank you, Doctor. I'll go in now."</p><p>The last time she saw her mother, she did not know it would be her last.</p><p>The last time she saw her father, she was too young to understand what was happening to him.</p><p>But this time, Karlie understood what was happening. She was older, wiser and all too used to being alone. But this wasn't about her.</p><p>"Nan," she said softly, grabbing her hand, just as she did when she saw her parents for the last time. "You've always been there for me. And this time, I should have been there for you. But I wasn't. And I should have been. So, when you wake up, I promise I will make it up to you. Just, please wake up."</p><p>There was no movement, but from Karlie's basic biology and cardio knowledge, her grandmother's heart was stable, which was promising. She sat there, holding Stella's hand until a doctor informed her that they needed to run a couple of more tests. Karlie reluctantly left, promising her grandmother that she would be back before she resigned herself to the reception area.</p><p>Night was hell. Stella remained in hospital for the night, with the doctor monitoring her vitals, particularly her blood sugar levels. Karlie remained anchored to the stiff, uncomfortable chair in the waiting room until visiting hours had ended and the sympathetic receptionist offered to call an Uber for her.</p><p>She had informed Cara of the situation and her best friend was trying her hardest to be supportive and compassionate, with reassuring messages reminding Karlie of how strong her grandmother was, how she would pull through and how she would be there for Karlie anytime she needed her.</p><p>And Karlie appreciated that, she did.</p><p>But with Stella currently being treated by medical professionals and Karlie not being allowed to see her for several hours, the last thing she wanted to think about was the potential of her grandmother, her last family member, dying.</p><p>As unlikely as it seemed, Karlie believed that she would find Taylor's presence more comforting than Cara's, as much as it pained her to consider it.</p><p>Taylor, being the most selfish being on the planet, would not have given less of a fuck if Karlie's grandmother were in hospital or not. She would be focused on one thing and one thing only, and that would be ensuring that Karlie's current mental dilemma had no impact on Karlie's ability to satisfy her needs. Taylor would, in no uncertain terms, take her mind off things.</p><p>Karlie hated that she would even consider contacting Taylor in her hour of need.</p><p>Fortunately, she did not need to. Karlie drove home that night, tear tracks imprinted on her face to endure a shaky, distressful three hours of sleep in a cold, uncomfortable bed only to wake up to a text from her grandmother.</p><p>Morning, sunshine. I am sorry for the scare, but I woke up a little while ago. The doctor is not too concerned but they are keeping a close eye on me. Love you 💦</p><p>Oops, wrong one 🙊</p><p>She was still getting the hang of emojis.</p><p>To say that Karlie was relieved to see her grandmother was safe and awake again would be an understatement. For once, it felt like fate was on her side, that it would let her win, or at least have a small victory.</p><p>Stella was her rock.</p><p>And she wasn't going anywhere.</p><p>*</p><p>Come Thursday afternoon, Karlie and Stella were sat in the doctor's office, Karlie holding onto her grandmother's warm, wrinkled arm as they listened to the doctor speak about changes to Stella's lifestyle and how to best combat her diabetes to minimize chances of her collapsing again.</p><p>"Miss Kloss, I've been told that you've already been informed about the changes to your medication so to save you time, I won't repeat it again, instead I'll just write up your prescription, see to it that you take it to the pharmacy as soon as possible."</p><p>"I need to powder my nose, Karlie," Stella said, rising from her chair. "No, you don't need to attend to me, I can make it on my own."</p><p>"I'd actually like to have a word with you if that's okay, Karlie," Doctor Kieran interjected.</p><p>"Yeah, that's fine. I'll just meet you in the foyer then, Nan."</p><p>"Thank you for your help, Doctor Kieran," Stella said as she walked out of the door. "I'll see you soon, Karlie.</p><p>"Your grandmother is well, for the time being, Miss Kloss. This was only a mild incident with no indication of any long-term effects, so she won't need to stay in hospital any longer. I've spoken to your grandmother and we're increasing her medication. Just see to it that she receives plenty of rest over the next few days, but pepper in some exercise too. And keep her far away from sugar. She has had enough for a lifetime," Doctor Kieran said, turning to Karlie. "We'll send the bill over within the next few weeks, once she's recovered."</p><p>"Thank you, Doctor Kieran. I'll take good care of her," Karlie replied.</p><p>"You're a good kid, Karlie. I know you'll do right by her," Doctor Kieran asserted. "I'll see you at your grandmother's next check-up. Take care now."</p><p>"Thanks. I'll keep in touch if anything happens."</p><p>Karlie walked out of the office in search of Stella, only to fully realize how large and labyrinthine the hospital was. She was slightly concerned for her grandmother, though she would be more familiar with the institution than Karlie was, so she hoped that her grandmother would be okay.</p><p>Karlie walked down a flight of stairs, near the children's ward, only to hear what was unmistakably singing, alongside the strumming of a guitar. It was beautiful, melodic and Karlie was enchanted by the source. It was soft, almost fairytale-like and it was far from the music Karlie typically listened to, preferring alternative or classic rock but she would be damned if she said that she didn't find this music incredibly appealing. She turned the corner, only to be greeted with an unexpected, yet pleasant surprise.</p><p>The person singing and playing the guitar was unmistakably Taylor Swift, with her hair in a ponytail and a soft pink oversized sweater in place of her usual designer blouse. What was most striking to Karlie, however, was the smile present on her face. It was the first glimpse of natural light after the tempestuous winter storm had subsided, the smallest ray of sunlight melting away the icicles that clung to the barren trees and the frost that powdered the lifeless grass, bringing vitality and color back to the Earth.</p><p>For the first time, Karlie didn't see the other girl as Taylor Swift, resident mean girl, or Taylor Swift, regular hatefuck.</p><p>She saw Taylor.</p><p>And she saw around her, a gaggle of happy children with authentic, colossal grins on their faces, clapping and cheering as she performed. Taylor's expression wasn't akin to her regular smug visage whenever her dutiful groupies lauded and revered her for simply existing, instead, it was raw, as if she were truly happy that the children were enjoying the performance.</p><p>And she played guitar, apparently.</p><p>If ever asked out loud, Karlie would vehemently deny and most likely punch whoever accused her of finding Taylor's musical proficiency ridiculously hot, but secretly, in the unassailable privacy of her own home, she would acknowledge such proclivities.</p><p>Karlie walked closer to the children's ward, only to hear a young girl request 'the princess song' again. Taylor obliged with a chuckle as she began to strum her guitar and sing once more.</p><p>"Someday my prince will come</p><p>Someday I'll find my love</p><p>And how thrilling that moment will be</p><p>When the prince of my dreams comes to me</p><p>He'll whisper 'I love you'</p><p>And steal a kiss or two</p><p>Though he's far away</p><p>I'll find my love some day</p><p>Some day when my dreams come true</p><p>Someday I'll find my love</p><p>Someone to call my own</p><p>And I'll know him the moment we meet</p><p>For my heart will start skipping a beat</p><p>Someday we'll say I do</p><p>Things we've been longing to</p><p>Though he's far away I'll find my love some day</p><p>Some day when my dreams come true</p><p>Somewhere waiting for me</p><p>There is someone I'm longing to see</p><p>Someone I simply can't help but adore</p><p>Someone who'll thrill me forever</p><p>Someday my prince will come</p><p>Someday I will find the one</p><p>Though he's far away</p><p>He'll find my love someday</p><p>Someday when my dreams come true</p><p>Oh, please make my dreams come true."</p><p>If Taylor sounded good from a distance, Taylor up close was simply unbelievable. Karlie would never admit to Taylor that she thought she was a good singer, her ego already surpassed record levels of narcissism, but privately, she found herself stunned that someone so malevolent could have such a sweet, enchanting voice and such musical talent. Karlie's viewing was soon interrupted by a friendly, middle-aged nurse walking in the room, announcing that it was time for Taylor to go, as check-ups would be starting soon.</p><p>"Don't worry, I'll be back next week, I promise. And I'll show you all pictures of my cats," Taylor promised as news of her departure was met with a chorus of disappointed sighs.</p><p>"Goodbye, Taylor," the nurse said. "See you next week."</p><p>"See you around, Nurse Paine. Bye, guys!"</p><p>Karlie was still in shock from what she had just seen, what she had just learned about Taylor, so much so that she was completely oblivious to the ward door closing and Taylor walking out, guitar in hand.</p><p>"Stalking me now, are we?"</p><p>"Fuck off, Taylor, I have way better things to do with my time," Karlie said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm here because my grandmother collapsed and I'm taking her home."</p><p>"Oh, my God, is she okay?" Taylor responded, sounding... genuinely concerned.</p><p>In retrospect, perhaps Karlie's response to Taylor's question was a little harsher than needed. In fairness, Karlie's secrecy was not entirely unfounded. Just because she was comfortable enough around Taylor to let the other girl kiss her a couple of times a week did not mean they were close enough for Karlie to talk about the trauma she had endured over the past twenty-four hours.</p><p>"Taylor, our relationship has never been about emotions. I'm not starting that shit now," Karlie replied.</p><p>"Gross, don't call it that. We don't have a relationship, I just think that you're a better-than-average kisser than most of the people in this school and I don't find every aspect of your physical appearance to be completely repulsive," Taylor asserted. "That's all."</p><p>"Oh, please, you don't find any aspect of my appearance repulsive."</p><p>"Yes, I do."</p><p>"Name one."</p><p>"Your... abs," Taylor said, after a sustained pause.</p><p>"Oh, yeah?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>Karlie didn't say anything, instead she unzipped her jacket to reveal a crop top, her torso on display. Karlie looked up to see where Taylor's eye level was, only to see, not to her surprise, that the cheerleader was blatantly staring at her body. Feeling particularly adventurous, Karlie took Taylor's hand, letting her fingers gently dance across her midriff.</p><p>"Still want to say that you hate my body?"</p><p>"Shut the fuck up, Karlie," Taylor snarled, retracting her hand.</p><p>"Can you please try and keep your drool off me, this is one of my favorite tops. But don't worry, seeing as you hate my abs, I'll be sure to wear a nice, big, thick, woolly sweater the next time we hook up so you don't have to endure the horror of seeing my body."</p><p>Taylor glowered at her, and Karlie knew that she had won this battle. Still, she couldn't resist a little more teasing before she had to go and find her grandmother.</p><p>"Maybe, I should just wear a million singlets under my shirt, so you don't have to touch them when we make out. Maybe I should just hold your hands down so that you don't subconsciously run your fingers across them. Would you prefer that, Princess?"</p><p>"No, and if I had any control over your wardrobe, you would be wearing crop tops exclusively," Taylor spat. "Are you fucking happy now, you piece of shit?"</p><p>"I am very satisfied. And speaking of satisfaction, Princess, I just want you to know that I also find your body not entirely physically repulsive. Especially your-"</p><p>"Karlie," Stella called out, hobbling over.</p><p>"Nan," Karlie called out, relieved, walking past Taylor. "There you are, I was looking for you. Are you ready to go?"</p><p>"Yes, I am, and I cannot be in here for another second, let's move."</p><p>"Right away, Nan. Goodbye, Taylor," Karlie crooned in a nauseatingly sweet tone.</p><p>"Goodbye, Karlie," Taylor replied, her saccharine tone dripping with false niceties. "I will see you tomorrow."</p><p>God, Karlie could not wait for their next hook-up.</p><p>*</p><p>The next day, Taylor fake-whispered "Karlie Kloss is a stoner" to Selena when the school principal, Mister Archer, walked by her. Karlie retaliated by fake-whispering "Taylor Swift gives head behind the Science lab" when he passed by her locker. To her delight, Taylor heard Karlie's remark and stopped mid-sashay only to turn around and storm down the halls. Karlie assumed that perhaps, she was going to refute Karlie's claim, had Mister Archer indicated he had even heard what was said but instead found Taylor pressed against her body, her breath tickling in Karlie's ear as she spoke.</p><p>"If you really want to see what I do behind the Science lab, then you'll meet me there in twenty minutes."</p><p>"I'll see if I can squeeze in a time for you," Karlie deadpanned, but both she and Taylor knew that come hell or high water, she would be there. "But we can't go for as long as usual, I have to get home to my grandmother."</p><p>"Fine," Taylor seethed. "But you better make it worth my while, Taylor."</p><p>"Oh, Princess, you will be singing my name. The question is whether you can make it worth my while."</p><p>Taylor removed her mouth from Karlie's ear so she could scour the hallway. Selena was fixated on her phone, Mister Archer was marching down the hallway, reprimanding a pair of girls for their 'inappropriate' clothing (wearing off-the-shoulder shirts) and other students were simply milling around, seemingly uninterested in Taylor and Karlie's latest spat. Though, knowing how dramatic and attention-seeking Taylor was, that was liable to change if she made a scene. What came next, however, was unheralded. Karlie was expecting a snappy retort or an angry hiss, only to be completely taken aback when Taylor grabbed her wrist and slid it under her blouse, stopping just below the lace of her bra.</p><p>"Still think I won't be worth your while?"</p><p>"I think I can pencil you in," Karlie said, though with much less bravado this time.</p><p>"Yeah," Taylor whispered as she removed Karlie's hand. "I think you can."</p><p>"What did you say to her, Taylor? She looks like a stunned mullet unless she's just fried her brain again," Selena whispered loudly as Taylor made her way back to her.</p><p>"Oh, I just casually reminded her of how annoying she is," Taylor replied, turning her head back to Karlie to wink at the other girl and make a quick display of tugging at her blouse. "She forgets that when she's high, so I needed to remind her of that. It's a form of charity."</p><p>Normally, Karlie would have rolled her eyes at Taylor. But today, she just laughed.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Fell Down A Rabbit Hole</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>There's always that one moment when a spark becomes a flame...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sweater Weather was blasting from the small speaker in Karlie's bedroom, the warm breeze wafting in through the window, bringing a fragrance of cherry blossoms mingled with the scent of the fresh apple pie Karlie's next-door neighbor had just baked into the room.</p><p>"Hey, teach," Cara said, flopping down onto Karlie's bed.</p><p>"Teach? That's a new one."</p><p>"Well, it's what you are."</p><p>"Teach?" Karlie queried, her face contorting into a frown.</p><p>"Well, yeah," Cara replied. "That's what you are, aren't you? Or have you stopped tutoring that girl?"</p><p>"Oh, right," Karlie chuckled, the memory of her lie coming back to her. "Yeah, we're still going, but she just calls me Karlie."</p><p>"Did she call you that whilst she left that hickey on your neck?" Cara said with a smirk, pointing an accusatory finger just above Karlie's collarbone.</p><p>No.</p><p>That had been Taylor yesterday after Cara had accidentally spilled her Mountain Dew on Karlie six minutes before she was due to meet with Taylor, meaning that she had to take her top off, revealing only a white sports bra underneath as soon as she was out of sight.</p><p>Taylor didn't care about the fact that it came from Target nor that it cost as much as her frilly socks, not when Karlie looked so enticing. As much as she loved to moan and complain about the trail of hickeys Karlie usually left on her collarbone that usually required at least fifty additional layers of Fenty foundation to cover up, she took even greater pleasure in leaving her own line of blemishes across Karlie's pale skin and then tracing over her handiwork with a slender, manicured finger and a satisfied smirk when she was done. And given that there was even more of Karlie on display, Taylor did not hold back as she laced Karlie's neck with amaranthine marks.</p><p>"I wish she had spilled a little more," Taylor had murmured, her face on Karlie's neck and her hands toying with the hem of Karlie's bra. "Maybe just enough to make this see-through, or to make you take it off entirely."</p><p>"That would never happen whilst we're at school," Karlie said.</p><p>"Maybe in your pickup truck then? A few meters away from school? Behind that construction site up the road? Just you and me and very little clothing," she whispered in Karlie's ear.</p><p>"Let me put my shirt back on for a minute whilst I go back to the car."</p><p>It took Karlie a minute to respond to Cara, caught between the impossible balance of trying to find a decent lie and not taking too long to answer, lest Cara grow even more suspicious. The easiest way out would have been to confirm her best friend's hunch but that would have resulted in endless pestering and an impossible web of lies, not to mention that Cara would probably want to meet Karlie's imaginary mentee and introduce her to Ashley and have them go on a double-date that would most likely end in a marijuana-induced foursome, according to Karlie's adrenaline-buzzed, panicked mind, so she scoured her mind for a plausible white lie.</p><p>"Mozzie bite," she finally answered after what seemed like forever. "Nan and I went walking down Cumberland River last night after I finished tutoring that girl because the doctor said that she needed exercise to keep her blood sugar in check and it got me."</p><p>"Shit," Cara replied. "You all good?"</p><p>"Yeah," Karlie said, a little breathless and stressed. "I'm fine."</p><p>It was brief times like this when Karlie questioned whether her tryst with Taylor was worth it. Sure, the girl was exceptionally beautiful, and she had a sharp (and particularly skilled) tongue and her ability to irritate and irk Karlie whilst simultaneously flirting with her like nobody else could.</p><p>But sometimes, when she went over to Cara's house and saw pictures of Ashley kissing Cara's cheek hanging up on the wall or saw the pair exchanging sweet messages to each other, then Karlie couldn't help but think if she wanted an emotionally-attached relationship more than she wanted Taylor.</p><p>But on the other hand, there was something inexplicably freeing about her relationship with Taylor, it was fun and fast-paced and aside from keeping it a secret, there was no stress involved. Sometimes, when Karlie needed to take control of her life, Taylor was more than happy to let Karlie be in charge and other days, when Karlie needed someone else to take the reins for a while, Taylor would spend the next half an hour or however long they had honoring Karlie's request and doing just that.</p><p>And besides, Taylor was intriguing to Karlie. She was an enigma that Karlie very much enjoyed uncovering, literally and figuratively, a riddle she was determined to solve. Why was she such a horrible person in school and such a sweet person elsewhere? What could have possibly turned her into such a monster? And why was she so very capable of bringing Karlie to her knees?</p><p>Maybe, one day, she would meet the real Taylor.</p><p>"Hey, Karlie. Karlie. Karlie?"</p><p>Karlie came out of her reverie to face a bemused Cara. "Where did you go?" She asked, tilting her head. "I lost you for a second."</p><p>"I was just... thinking about schoolwork," Karlie replied nervously.</p><p>Cara did not believe her for a second, obviously. "What's turned you into such a nerd? I haven't seen you care this much about school since you were paired with that cute exchange student in Science."</p><p>"Don't get me wrong, Toni was gorgeous. But that's not what this is about. I mean, we're going to be seniors next year. Junior year might not mean shit but senior year leads to college. I don't know if that's something I want to aspire for but I'd at least like the option, you know? And I guess that starts here or something."</p><p>"Fair enough. I was actually looking at Memphis the other day. They have an art studies course that looks kinda cool."</p><p>"Really, Cara? I'm proud of you for that! Did Charles get onto you about it or something?"</p><p>"No, I was just talking about it with Ashley and I was like, "what's the harm in looking?" to her. Cause she wants to be a nurse but her parents keep pushing her to become a doctor and it was pissing her off so she helped me look up some courses relating to art studies. Dad doesn't mind what I go for."</p><p>"Nan hasn't said much to me about college except she has not-so-subtly hinted that she wants me as close as possible. I think she'd pay a professor to just train me in the living room at this point." </p><p>"Learning from home. That sounds ideal, honestly. You don't have to spend money on transport, you don't have to leave your bed, have lunch whenever and they can't stop you."</p><p>"I mean, I suppose..." Karlie said absent-mindedly. </p><p>There was only one small hitch with that fantasy. </p><p>Where would she ever meet Taylor?</p><p>*</p><p>Karlie had the fortune of being on time to school today, something that never occurred unless Taylor had requested her presence early in the morning. But Taylor had told her yesterday that Karlie was to meet her at lunch time, and although it took Karlie a short while to think of an adequate excuse for her friends, she had agreed. </p><p>Karlie had been waiting for Taylor seemingly forever. The shorter blonde was seldom late, usually wanting to get down to business immediately but today she had kept Karlie waiting for over five minutes. She was annoyed with Taylor's behavior and was just about to leave when she heard a scathing voice cutting through the air.</p><p>"Just where do you think you're going?"</p><p>"Oh, there you fucking are," Karlie said, turning around. "I was wonder-"</p><p>There, a red-cheeked, glossy-eyed Taylor stood, her Yves Saint Laurent blouse drenched in red ice, which was only being made worse by the red dye dripping down from her soft blonde curls to the hem of her shirt.</p><p>"Red dye number seven looks good on you," Karlie chuckled.</p><p>Taylor scowled at her, the perfect arch of her eyebrow making it perfectly clear to Karlie that this was not a laughing matter (and also making her really hot under the collar). "Goodbye, Karlie," she said, preparing to storm off like a petulant child.</p><p>"Wait, no, Taylor, come back, come on. Taylor. Let me take your mind off things," Karlie offered. "You obviously need some stress relief."</p><p>Taylor traipsed back to Karlie, slumping against the wall. "This can't be happening right now, not when my campaign for prom queen is about to start," she groaned. "I can't have people chucking slushies at me like I'm some kind of nerd."</p><p>"You are a nerd though, Princess. A Disnerd. Is that the fandom name or whatever?" Karlie said.</p><p>"Shut up, Karlie," Taylor growled.</p><p>"You always say that to me, but I know how much you love my lips. Anyway, who had the balls to slushie you? I want to send them a thank-you card and a basket of mini-muffins."</p><p>"I'd be surprised if you could afford the card," Taylor huffed with a roll of her eyes.</p><p>"Oh, get fucked, Taylor. You being richer than me doesn't make you better than me, you judgmental ass. You may not have noticed because you're an airhead stuck in your own fantasy world but just for the record, you're the one covered in slushie right now, not me."</p><p>"I'm surprised you can notice anything, what with your constant marijuana haze."</p><p>"Everyone gets slushied at some point, it's no big deal. Just go home and get changed."</p><p>"I don't have time! I have to go to the hospital after school! Miranda, one of the kids I was with the other day, is having an operation today and I promised her that I would sing some of her favorite songs before she went in. Why do you think I asked to meet up at lunch today?"</p><p>Out of all of the answers she had been expecting, one so... unselfish was definitely not in her mind.</p><p>"Here," Karlie said. "Take my sweater. It's really nice, it has pockets and I wouldn't want Miranda to miss out before her operation."</p><p>"No, thank you," Taylor huffed, looking away, though Karlie was fully aware of Taylor's eyes drifting back to her arms and blatantly ogling her biceps.</p><p>"Well, Princess, it may not be the thousand-dollar apparel you're used to, but it's either you walk around covered in red ice or you take your blouse off and walk around shirtless, which I personally would love but Mister Archer would crucify you for. Your choice."</p><p>Taylor, albeit reluctantly, snatched the sweater out of Karlie's hand with a scowl. She turned around and slowly unbuttoned her shirt, a smirk unseen by Karlie dancing across her face as she felt Karlie's stare on her.</p><p>She threw her blouse over her head in Karlie's direction, not that Karlie really cared, given that she presently had an unconcealed view of Taylor's back. Silken curls of an aureate hue cascaded down a slender expanse of creamy skin lightly dotted with freckles and Karlie was loving every second of it.</p><p>"Stop staring," Taylor snapped. "And come help me put this on."</p><p>Karlie obliged immediately.</p><p>She didn't see much of Taylor the next day. Life carried on in its usual fashion, Karlie nearly fell asleep in English, she lazily doodled a picture of Snickerdoodle, the neighbor's dog, sitting happily in her ute and she walked into the storage closet in the Science lab in search of an earring she had lost there when she was there skipping class, only to accidentally discover Lena, president of the STEM club and an acquaintance of Karlie's, passionately making out with Andrea, editor of the school newsletter and president of the yearbook committee.</p><p>She was just thankful for the lack of detail- perhaps lack of investment in school electricity had unfound benefits after all- seeing just a whirlwind of sparkly pink lip gloss being left against golden brown skin and the distant sight of mussed auburn hair before Lena turned around. Andrea blushed under the faint, mustard-yellow glow of the dingy light bulb and nervously readjusted her glasses at least seven times whilst a wanton Lena gave Karlie a look of utter death.</p><p>"Uh, sorry guys," Karlie mumbled. "You haven't seen an earring on the floor by any chance, have you? Not that you'd be looking at the floor, obviously."</p><p>"No, sorry, Karlie," Andrea said, still avoiding direct eye contact with Karlie, which truthfully, she had no issue with. "But we'll let you know if we see one, right, Lena?"</p><p>"Get out, Karlie," was Lena's unsympathetic reply.</p><p>"Lena," Andrea hissed, though her tone was not as harsh or aggressive as Taylor's. "Be nice, babe."</p><p>"Hi, Karlie," Lena began in a saccharine tone, a fake smile plastered on her face. "I'm very sorry, but I haven't had a chance to examine the messy floor today on account of the fact that my super-hot girlfriend pulled me in here to make out with me and I've been primarily focused on that. If I find it, I'll let you know, okay?"</p><p>Karlie gave a quick, apologetic nod before responding "I'll see you in Science, Lena. Bye, Andrea."</p><p>After that humiliating experience, which resulted in a deeply uncomfortable Science period, Karlie caught up with Cara during their lunch break, the pair loitering by Karlie's locker, discussing ways for Cara to best ask Ashley to be her prom date, only for them to be interrupted by a noticeable presence in the hallway.</p><p>"Oh, here comes trouble," Cara said, her mahogany eyes looking past Karlie and down the hallway.</p><p>Not dissimilar to the way a stormy wave crashes into the shore, aggressive in its consumption of every inch of the beach from the rocks to the sand, Taylor Regio strutted down the halls, still wearing Karlie's sweater from yesterday and commanding the attention of every person in the locker bay.</p><p>It was subtle and unnoticeable to everyone else but Karlie, the way Taylor's eyes precariously hunted her down until she saw her. She observed the raptorial manner in which Taylor stalked through the locker bay until she was close enough for Karlie to smell the Tom Ford perfume dabbed on her neck and see the faintest smudge in her foundation that revealed the faintest outline of purple. She was advancing in on Karlie, the smirk playing at the edge of her lips warning Karlie that Taylor was about to be devastatingly snarky yet-</p><p>Only for Martha Hunt to cut in and get to Karlie first, to Taylor's blatant disgust.</p><p>"Hi, Karlie," Martha began, sweet and chirpy and totally oblivious to the stormy expression on Taylor's face. "I was wondering if you have a moment to talk."</p><p>"Oh, of course, Martha," Karlie replied with a sly smile. "What could I possibly do for someone as gorgeous as you?"</p><p>Beyond Martha's beaming face, Karlie could see a much less jovial Taylor, an obvious scowl on her face and her smirk long gone as she glowered at Karlie and Martha, ignoring whatever it was that Andrea was desperately trying to get her to pay attention to.</p><p>"Well, one of the ovens in the Home Ec room isn't working and we're having a bake sale to raise funds for the animal shelter tomorrow so we really need it up-and-running and I heard that you recently got a job at the mechanic's shop and I know that you're really good with technology so I was wondering if you could-"</p><p>"I don't think that will be necessary," Taylor intervened from behind Martha.</p><p>"Oh, hello, Taylor," Martha said, her expression a lot more glum and forlorn than it was five seconds ago. "What do you mean by that?"</p><p>"Well, we have a very experienced maintenance crew here," Taylor dragged out, her mawkish tone dripping with venom. "I'm sure Dirk or Vance would be happy to take care of it for you. Besides, Karlie has a hot date with her right hand in the school bathrooms right about now. She doesn't have time for you. Goodbye, Martha."</p><p>Martha looked like she was about to protest, and Karlie was about to speak up, only for Martha to decide that a battle with Taylor Regio that she would inevitably lose was not on her agenda today. "Bye, Karlie," she had said, and Karlie couldn't help but chuckle at her flipping Taylor the bird as she left the hallway.</p><p>"What? Have you been thinking about my fingers, Taylor? You want me to show you how they work?" Karlie asked, flipping Taylor the bird just as Martha had done.</p><p>"There's no need for that," Taylor said. "I know for sure that in five minutes, I'll be behind the Science Lab with the hottest guy in school and you'll be alone, under the gum-covered bleachers with nothing but a cheap, poorly-rolled blunt for company."</p><p>It was a signal. A far more blatant, obvious signal than what Karlie was used to, meaning that whatever was going on, Taylor was desperate to see her. It was a rarity, for Karlie to see Taylor so vulnerable and needy, at least before they started kissing and she couldn't help but wonder what had left Taylor so touch-starved and audacious.</p><p>Five minutes later, she found out when Taylor had her pinned to the wall with a smoldering look on her face and an insatiable, burning hunger in her eyes that Karlie had never seen in her before. It was new and Karlie knew that whatever happened next, she was about to be richly rewarded for her earlier act of gratitude.</p><p>"You know," Taylor began, her lips tauntingly close to Karlie's mouth and her arm snaked around Karlie's waist. "I saw this test in your pocket with results. A ninety-seven, hmm?"</p><p>"Yeah, well, I like Comp Sci, and that involves a lot of math, so I'm good at math," Karlie explained casually, trying her hardest to hide her secret glee at Taylor finding her grades impressive.</p><p>"Surprisingly, I'm not completely repulsed by your geekiness. In fact, I'm having a spot of trouble in Math right now and if my grades are poor then Mister Archer won't let me be crowned prom queen."</p><p>"Okay, so?" Karlie replied. "Why the fuck would I care about whether or not you're named prom queen?"</p><p>"Have you ever fucked a queen, Karlie?"</p><p>She shook her head.</p><p>"Would you like to?"</p><p>"I could be convinced."</p><p>Taylor pressed her lips against Karlie, kissing her in a maddeningly slow fashion. She gently tugged at her hair as she began to leave a trail of kisses down her neck to her collarbone at a tortoise-like rate before Karlie pulled her up for a much more fast-paced passionate kiss, only for Taylor to pull away almost immediately. Almost.</p><p>"Hold on now," Taylor drawled, a finger placed on Karlie's lips. "Not so fast, I'm going to need some assistance tonight. Why don't you bring yourself over to my house at half-past four and we'll see what we can do for each other."</p><p>Karlie could only nod vigorously in response, her heartbeat reverberating in her ears.</p><p>"Good girl," Taylor purred. "I'll see you there, baby and if you're even one minute late, there will be consequences."</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Polaroid of Perfection</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>...And then a flame becomes a fire.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Karlie's primitive Holden ute, with its chipped cherry red paint and mud-flecked windows was a clear stand-out from the other cars that lined the street, all BMWs and Porsches, sparkling and resolute as though they had been purchased yesterday, though she didn't mind. Noticeably, there was only one car parked at the Swift residence and given that Karlie immediately recognized the sleek, silver convertible, she knew it was Taylor's.</p><p>Knowing that Taylor would never let her park in the driveway and make it appear as though Karlie was a fixture at her household, Karlie parked on the opposite side of the road in front of an admirably green nature strip, most likely tended to one of the many gardeners and landscapers that were hired by the people here too haughty to even water their own flowers.</p><p>"Can you tell the time, Karlie?" was the first sentence out of Taylor's mouth the second she opened the door.</p><p>"Yes. That's why I'm early, Princess."</p><p>"I said four-thirty, dumbass. Not twenty-five past. If I wanted you here at twenty-five past, I would have said so. And by the way, you couldn't have run a hose over that thing? We have standards on this street, Karlie."</p><p>"No problem, Taylor. I'll take my leave then before anyone recognizes my car and they discover that you, the Taylor Swift has deigned to spend her precious time with me, one of the humble peasants that bow at her feet. And by the way, you don't seem to mind 'that thing' very much when you're sitting in the driver's seat and letting me absolutely ravish you." Karlie raised her hands in mock surrender as she spoke, slowly backing away from a furious Taylor. "Oh, and by the way, Princess, enjoy failing Math and fucking yourself tonight."</p><p>Karlie could barely hide her smirk as a scowling Taylor grabbed her wrist with a vice-like grip and pulled her inside.</p><p>Taylor's entrance hall (and it was an entrance hall) was as opulent and extravagant as Karlie would have expected. A palatial chandelier was the cynosure of the grand foyer with what Karlie assumed was a real Monet taking pride of place as Taylor tugged Karlie across the expensive Italian marble and up the winding flight of stairs.</p><p>It wasn't until Taylor had pulled Karlie into her bedroom, slamming the door behind them that Karlie was able to fully appreciate just how alluring Taylor looked tonight. The cheerleader had changed into a short blue dress that accentuated every curve and perfection on her body and knee-high white socks that highlighted how long and lithesome her legs were. But for Karlie, it was Taylor's lips, coated in a sparkly pink lip gloss, looking so fulsome, soft, and so fucking kissable.</p><p>And that's precisely what Karlie did.</p><p>She clumsily directed Taylor to the four-poster bed at the center of the large room, nearly tripping over both her and Taylor's feet in order to do so but her hands nor mouth never leaving Taylor's body as she explored every inch of Taylor that her tight dress encouraged her to caress and touch. Taylor was equally responsive, her hand slipping up Karlie's Led Zeppelin shirt as the latter slowly slid a calloused hand under her skirt, inching closer and closer towards the hem of her underwear until-</p><p>"That's enough for now, baby," a breathless, undeniably aroused Taylor said, pressing a finger to Karlie's slender lips and lightly slapping her hand. "I mean, I can't let you have all the fun right away or you won't feel inclined to help me at all."</p><p>"Well, that being said, I could still use a little warming up before I begin," Karlie suggested, pulling Taylor back onto her.</p><p>Karlie received a sultry stare in return as Taylor shifted upwards, allowing herself to drag a sole finger down Karlie's body from her jawline down to the band of her ripped skinny jeans. Her eyes were locked onto Karlie's as she unblinkingly slipped a finger under her jeans and began toying with the hem of her briefs.</p><p>"Hmm, feels like you're pretty warmed up to me, baby. But just to be sure, of course..."</p><p>Taylor, without ever removing her finger from its present state, pushed Karlie further onto the bed in a rousing kiss, waiting barely a second before she flicked her tongue into Karlie's mouth, eliciting a loud groan from the other girl, who instinctively grabbed Taylor's hand in an attempt to push it down into her underwear. Taylor resisted and twisted her hand until she had a firm grip on Karlie's wrist, whereupon she pinned it to the bed, her voice hot and siren-like in her ear.</p><p>"Yeah, you are definitely warmed enough up, baby. Off to work you go."</p><p>"I'm sure that my brain would work better if you finished want you started," Karlie suggested.</p><p>"If you want me to finish what I started then you'll do what I invited you here to do," Taylor reminded Karlie.</p><p>"Where's your homework?"</p><p>Taylor flicked a finger over to her vanity, with one half boasting a tall pile of books and folders and the other portion hosting a wide array of expensive perfumes and cosmetics. "There," she said, pulling out her phone. "You'll find it."</p><p>"This is not what I signed up for, Taylor. I will do the first set of questions for you," Karlie started tentatively, struggling to look away from the teasing split between Taylor's legs. "I will explain how to do it for you. But I am not your servant, Princess and I am not doing the whole thing for you. And if you wanted someone else to do it for you, why didn't you just hire a tutor? Isn't that what pompous assholes like yourself do when they have money? Just pay someone else to do it for you because you can't be fucked lifting a finger?"</p><p>Taylor visibly pouted as Karlie spoke, though she did not tear her eyes away from her phone. "But I told you, Karlie. I want you," the shorter girl responded casually. "And besides, the easier you make this for me, the easier I'll make myself for you later on."</p><p>It was hard to disagree with that logic when Taylor parted her legs ever so slightly, not so little that Karlie was unable to infer what she was implying, but not so much that her message was overblown. Resignedly, Karlie trudged over to Taylor's vanity and sifted through the stack of books until she found Taylor's math homework.</p><p>"Put that down," Karlie said, gesturing to Taylor's phone. "If I'm going to do your work for me, you're at least going to watch me so that you learn how to do it and so I don't have to do it again."</p><p>"Karlie," Taylor whined again, an exaggerated pout forming on her face as she twisted a strand of hair. "Please do it for me. And besides if you do it for me, then I can use this time to make myself prettier for you. Readier for you. More available to you."</p><p>"I don't know how many gullible jocks have fallen for this routine, but you'll have to work a little harder if you want to-"</p><p>Karlie stopped talking, the corners of her mouth twitching as Taylor casually stood up and reached for the zipper at the back of her dress. "Maybe you were right, baby. Maybe you would be more lenient with me if you were warmed up first. Want to help me out here?"</p><p>Karlie sprung up from Taylor's bed immediately. She wasted no time in placing a hand on Taylor's hips and her other hand on Taylor's back, her head resting on Taylor's neck, inhaling her sweet perfume.</p><p>"I mean, I suppose it would make me more lenient..." Karlie murmured.</p><p>"But, then again..." Taylor said, spinning around and out of Karlie's arms. "I'm not in the mood right now. Maybe seeing you use that gorgeous head of yours would change things. Get to work, baby."</p><p>Karlie sighed and flopped back down onto Taylor's soft queen-sized bed as the latter moved over to her vanity and began combing through her collection of perfumes, making a production of the process as she murmured and mumbled, holding each one up into the bask of light emitted from her window, as if she was inspecting each one.</p><p>It annoyed and confused Karlie to no end, but she would be lying if she said she didn't appreciate the view of Taylor's rear. Still, she wasn't about to let the other girl walk all over her, she made that abundantly clear to Taylor multiple times and she was not about to back down now.</p><p>"What are you doing? You're supposed to be over here, watching me."</p><p>"Oh, I'm just looking for some of my strongest perfume, you know, for when you're gone, so I can disguise the stench of weed that will be lingering in the air," Taylor sniped. "Oh, and the odor of your cheap Walmart fragrance."</p><p>"Why are you such a bitch?" Karlie asked abruptly, her tone one of genuine curiosity rather than hatred.</p><p>Taylor stopped sorting through her assortment of perfumes, her back wholly straight as she turned around to face Karlie, her expression noticeably angry. "What the fuck do you mean?"</p><p>"Well, in school, and to me, you're some kind of Heather Chandler reincarnation but when you were in the hospital, singing to those kids, with your hair down, making them smile and laugh, you genuinely seemed to be enjoying yourself, all without putting anyone down. So, I am asking the question- why are you such a bitch? What's the reason for all... this?"</p><p>"You really want to know the truth?"</p><p>It took a moment for Karlie to respond. She had not anticipated such a bizarrely sudden shift from anger to the presently softened, unreadable expression on Taylor's face. "I mean, honestly, yeah. We've been doing this for a while now, can't help but be a little curious about you, Princess."</p><p>"Betty and Ali," Taylor began slowly. "Are not my biological parents. My real mother's name is Andrea and she died when I was six. My father walked out when I was two, I don't know him. I was adopted by them during a time in which they believed that they would never conceive children of their own."</p><p>Karlie did not say a word, mostly because she had nothing to say. She had expected some catty remark from Taylor, or one of her typical 'shut the fuck up' retorts but certainly not for Taylor to be so profoundly raw and emotional nor for Taylor to open up about something she clearly struggled to talk about. So, she simply moved over on the bed, and patted it for the other girl, gesturing for her to sit down.</p><p>"Until I was eleven, I was the center of their world. They were both corporate moguls, unlike my birth mother, so I spent a lot of time with the nanny, but whenever I had their time, they revered me. It was just us against the world. But then, when Marissa was thirty-six, the unexpected happened and she fell pregnant. They gave birth to Vanessa six years ago and life hasn't really been the same since."</p><p>It was at this point that Taylor gently wrapped her arms around Karlie, nestling her head into the crook of Karlie's neck and under her chin. "Lie back," Karlie instructed softly and they did, albeit awkwardly as Taylor refused to dislodge herself from the taller girl. Thirty seconds of awkward wriggling and shuffling and the pair were resting amidst a plethora of pink decorative pillows.</p><p>"They still love me, of course, they still treat me like one of their own, but it's just hard to compete with a miracle, you know? At school, I don't have to compete with anyone, and the focus is on me again. Maybe I take it too far, but I don't know. You're the only one who has ever told me otherwise. That's either really good or really bad, I guess."</p><p>"How do you feel about Vanessa?" Karlie asked tentatively, still unsure of the unprecedented protocol.</p><p>"I love her, of course I do, she's my sister and she looks up to me, but sometimes she feels more like competition than a sibling. I don't even know why I'm telling you this, nobody knows except for Andrea and Candice, I just feel like you won't judge me, which is weird, I know, given how we treat each other but I feel like you'd keep this private. Maybe it's just after months of keeping this a secret together or something stupid like that."</p><p>"I won't judge you, no. I'm not really in a position to do so, anyway. My mother is dead too, she died when I was nine."</p><p>"What happened?" Taylor asked softly and for the first time, she seemed genuinely interested in what Karlie had to say. "If you feel comfortable sharing."</p><p>"Drunk driver," Karlie replied. "Except the driver was my dad. My parents were coming back from a friend's retirement party, it was held at the bar just up the road. My dad had thrown back a few beers, my mother wasn't a drinker, so she was sober. She asked my dad for the keys, he refused and insisted he was fine. My mom was not the best driver and ironically, he wanted to avoid a crash. He was a sweet but also very stubborn man and he was insistent that he was fit to drive. It was a seven-minute drive, he thought he could make it. And he almost did. He was swerving on the road, switching lanes, and running lights until he veered to avoid a truck and the car spun out and hit the neighbor's tree. A branch fell and crushed my mother. She died at the scene, there was no saving her."</p><p>Taylor sat up, pulling Karlie closer into her as she pressed a light kiss to her forehead. It was soothing and sweet and for a brief moment, made her feel as though perhaps she and Taylor were an actual couple instead of brutal adversaries who came together a few times a week for a hasty make-out session.</p><p>"I didn't understand why I saw my mother one night and didn't see her the next and I didn't understand why there were police officers at my house taking my dad away and I didn't understand why my nan was crying. My father is serving eleven years in prison and I haven't seen him in three."</p><p>"That must be so hard on you, Karlie. So, you live with your nan now?"</p><p>"Yeah, she's the lady I was with at the hospital the other day. She's incredible."</p><p>"Yeah, I bet she is," Taylor said softly, and Karlie didn't think she was being mean when she said it either.</p><p>"You know, Taylor," Karlie said, inching closer towards her. "I think I don't completely hate you anymore."</p><p>"Yeah?" Taylor purred, bringing her hand into Karlie's hair, stroking her long honey brown locks. "I don't completely hate you anymore either. In fact, I hate you so little right now, I'm going to let you not doing my homework slide if you kiss me right now."</p><p>Karlie pushed herself back up onto the bed, gesturing for Taylor to come and straddle her lap. The cheerleader was more than happy to fulfill Karlie's request as she swung her legs over Karlie's and began nipping at her jaw and neck.</p><p>"You know," Taylor murmured in between kisses. "You were right earlier, for once in your sorry life, when you said that I could easily have a tutor do this for me because I could. But honestly, the thought of you, in my bed and in my room, in those tight jeans you always wear, nose scrunched up and brain going at full capacity, now that was a sight I was unable to push out of my mind."</p><p>"Really?" Karlie hummed. "How often were you unable to push that thought out of your mind?"</p><p>"All the damn time."</p><p>Taylor wasted no time in ridding Karlie of her shirt, as she straddled Karlie, who was attempting to multi-task by making it easier for Taylor to remove her shirt whilst also kissing her, grazing and biting her soft rose lips with her teeth as Taylor successfully liberated Karlie from her top, immediately grasping at Karlie's chest with an agitated groan as Karlie teased and taunted her, moving extra slowly and then speeding up, only to slow down again. Taylor had enjoyed doing it to Karlie earlier, so it was nice to reverse the dynamic and seek brief revenge, even if she would stop in a moment.</p><p>Karlie's hand was once again sliding up the side of Taylor's leg as she nibbled and nipped at the shorter girl's clavicle. Her other hand, however, had an equally important duty- getting Taylor's dress off her and on the floor as fast as possible (without breaking the zip or damaging the dress because she would be working for fifteen years straight to pay it off). She detached her lips from Taylor's body, evoking a disgruntled whine from her in response.</p><p>"Is this okay?" Karlie asked, her wide fawn eyes looking only into Taylor's azure ones.</p><p>It was an unprecedented intimacy between the pair, something they were not yet familiar with. Consent had always existed between them, it was essential. But there was something so profound and visceral about the uncharted territory, the unknown boundaries that they were about to cross together, that made Karlie need to stop and evaluate the situation and the effect it would have on their relationship. When Taylor gave a slow nod as opposed to vocal agreement, Karlie continued to linger for a short while longer, just in case.</p><p>"I'm sure," Taylor replied after a moment. "What about you?"</p><p>"I'm sure too," Karlie affirmed.</p><p>Taylor's dress was only partially unzipped, but that was no longer a concern of Karlie's, who had to use one hand to hold and keep steady a slightly shaky, breathless, but deeply gratified Taylor, with her other hand deftly working at tugging down Taylor's briefs.</p><p>"Karlie, hurry the fuck up," Taylor panted. "My sister will be home soon. Romance me some other time. And the next time we meet up, I expect flowers for this honor."</p><p>"What? You're worried that I'll be so good, your whole neighborhood will hear you?"</p><p>A sharp hiss and a quick dig of manicured nails into Karlie's bare skin reminded her that she had someone very important to attend to.</p><p>And she was so close too.</p><p>If Karlie had been told six months ago that she would one day be lying on Taylor Swift's custom-made bed, in her colossal bedroom, with the aforementioned girl writhing on top of her, begging for her touch, she would have asked where she could buy whatever drug that person was on. Had that same someone ever told Taylor the same thing, she would have had them dangling from her Juliet balcony before they could say 'retraction'.</p><p>She could not be more satisfied with the end result.</p><p>"Karlie," Taylor whimpered. "Karlie, please, I am begging. Do you know how fucking embarrassing that is for me, you asshole?"</p><p>"Hmm," Karlie said, a teasing smirk on her face as she extracted her fingers from under Taylor's dress. "I mean, I was here to do your homework, and as you said, you can't let me have all the fun."</p><p>"Surely, you don't mean that, Karlie," Taylor purred, her voice pure silk as she leaned over to reach the other girl's head, whispering in her ear. "Surely, now that you have me, you can't possibly mean a word of what you're saying."</p><p>"You're right, of course I don't," Karlie murmured in response.</p><p>"So, take me then, baby."</p><p>Karlie's fingers glided back under Taylor's dress before she even finished the sentence, not wanting to spend another second denying Taylor nor herself of their needs.</p><p>"Oh, fu-" Taylor groaned as Karlie slipped two fingers under her lingerie, only for a loud, excited chirp to break through the atmosphere.</p><p>"Taylor! Taylor! I'm home! I want to show you this drawing I did of us!"</p><p>"Fuck," was Taylor's delighted reply. "Hurry up and put your shirt on."</p><p>"Hurry up and stop straddling me then, Princess," Karlie retorted.</p><p>Karlie grabbed for her shirt, which had fallen off the bed amidst Taylor's passionate attempts to unburden Karlie of her clothing, whilst Taylor very reluctantly dismounted Karlie and motioned for the other girl to zip her dress back up.</p><p>Not a moment too soon did the voice burst into Taylor's bedroom, brown curls bouncing as she waved a drawing of two girls together in front of a large yellow house. She looked around the room and smiled innocently, taking no notice of characteristics that other people would, like Taylor's mussed hair or the pattern of bitemarks and hickeys on Karlie's neck.</p><p>"Hi, Vanny," Taylor greeted sweetly, still slightly out-of-breath.</p><p>"Hi, Taylor," Vanessa replied, outstretching her arms for a hug. "Look at what I did in school today! I made it for you!"</p><p>"Oh, Vanessa, this is beautiful, I love it! I'm going to frame it and hang it up on my wall, next to the drawing of you and me as princesses, okay?"</p><p>"Thanks, Mar-Mar! I love you! Who is this?" she asked, pointing at Karlie, who awkwardly waved back.</p><p>"This is Karlie, a classmate of mine," Taylor explained nervously, a rising blush on her face. "She's tutoring me in Math."</p><p>"You don't need to be tutored, you're smart! Sorry, Karlie, but nobody is smarter than my big sister!"</p><p>Karlie looked up and mouthed 'she's adorable' to Taylor, who had a soft, charismatic smile on her face as she watched her sister talk to Karlie. It was sweet, and it was one of those rare moments where she saw the real Taylor, rather than the Taylor that terrorized William Bowen Campbell High on a daily basis.</p><p>"Vanessa!" a foreign voice called out from below. "Where are you?"</p><p>"Looks like Katy needs you, sweetie," Taylor said kindly. "I'll talk to you later once Karlie and I have finished up here."</p><p>"Bye, Taylor! Bye Karlie!" Vanessa said cheerfully, waving goodbye to both of them before leaving.</p><p>"You know, I used to think that you were the cutest member of the Swift household but it's definitely her," Karlie jested.</p><p>"Yeah, she is," Taylor said with a chuckle as she sat back down, and for the first time, it wasn't derisive nor at Karlie's expense.</p><p>"So," Karlie began, inching closer towards Taylor. "I was thinking, maybe after school tomorrow, if you're not busy, maybe you'd want to go to The Noodle Junction? Grab a bite to eat together? Nothing serious, nice and breezy, of course."</p><p>Taylor's jaw dropped, not completely, but enough that it was noticeable to Karlie. Her eyebrows creased and furrowed, and her lips moved several times, but nothing came out, as if she were unsure of what to say.</p><p>"Look, do we have to make this... public? I mean, I'm fine with keeping this casual. Relaxed. Private. Out of sight. I mean, sorry if this hurts, but I think this works better if nobody knows that we're together and going out together. And besides, our thing isn't serious anyway, I don't see why we have to publicize it."</p><p>The rejection only stung a little when compared to the nonchalant nature of Taylor's actions as she spoke. As if this was rehearsed almost as if Taylor had prepared to dash Karlie's aspirations from the minute she pulled her through the door.</p><p>This was Taylor Swift's world and Karlie was just living in it.</p><p>"No, it's fine, Taylor," Karlie snapped, standing up. "I get it. I drive a used pickup truck; I shop at Target and I'm not slated to go to Wharton when I leave high school and you're embarrassed by me. And you're right, nothing about this is serious. I mean, I told you that my dad was in jail for killing my mother and I almost took your virginity, but this is nothing!"</p><p>"I'm not a-"</p><p>"Oh, yes, you are. You may like to pretend otherwise because you don't want anyone to think less of you because of it, but I know that you would never deign one of the idiot jocks at this school worthy of such an honor because you deserve better! You, the mighty Taylor Swift, you deserve everything! In fact, nobody on this planet is worthy of her highness! Nobody in this universe!"</p><p>"Karlie," Taylor began nervously. "Karlie, it's nothing personal, I just-"</p><p>"Don't 'Karlie' me, Taylor. I mean, you're not wrong. This is what this whole thing has been about since the beginning, where you can't have any of your friends finding out that rich bitch Taylor Swift hooks up with gutter trash. Foolish of me to think things would change."</p><p>"Don't play that card, Karlie. You wanted to keep this private too so don't pretend that this is on me. And, so what if I care about what people think about me? We can't all be losers with no direction in life and nobody expecting anything from us," Taylor spat. "Especially not with prom just around the corner."</p><p>"Goodbye, Taylor. Best of luck with your prom campaign," Karlie huffed as she grabbed her bag and walked out of the door.</p><p>"Wait, Karlie-" Taylor began, but the other girl was already storming down the stairs, ignoring the desperate pleas of "baby" coming from the second floor.</p><p>She had never hated Taylor Swift more.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Sweet Escape</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>We all need one sometime.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Come the next day, Karlie readied herself for school as early as possible, lest Stella notice her bloodshot eyes, tear-stained pillows, and morose expression. Whilst the gentle amalgam of dusty pink and xanthous yellow heralding the sun's rise usually made Karlie smile, today not even the first blinking of the reborn day was able to lift her spirits.</p><p>She did not know precisely why it hurt so much, she had known from the beginning that Taylor's interests were shallow and didn't extend beyond ensuring that everyone in existence was insanely jealous of her.</p><p>But it was that comment that one remark she had made the first time they kissed that had propelled Karlie's determination to find the real Taylor that hid beyond the facade of an all-American princess. It was honestly one of Taylor's most appealing attributes, in Karlie's opinion, the mystique and intrigue that surrounded her entire persona, and every time Karlie chipped away at the veneer Taylor presented and upheld, she only felt more attracted to the cheerleader.</p><p>The Taylor who kissed her like the world was about to end was the Taylor she found gorgeous beyond belief.</p><p>The Taylor she saw singing to children in the hospital, that was the Taylor she found endearingly sweet.</p><p>The Taylor who loved her little sister and all of the pictures that she drew for her was the Taylor she found adorable.</p><p>The Taylor who opened up to her and enabled her to open up as well was the Taylor she found earnestly caring.</p><p>The Taylor who didn't want anything to do with her and would sooner burn her cheerleading uniform than consider taking things further with Karlie was all of those Maries, and the Taylor Karlie had to leave behind.</p><p>The only thing that would improve her mood would be for her to see and hear as little of Taylor Swift as possible.</p><p>Only for her to be greeted by an obnoxiously large poster of Taylor in her cheerleading uniform, a tiara on her head, and a sugary-sweet grin plastered on her face the moment she walked into school. The slogan of choice ('Queen Bee for Prom Queen') made Karlie feel nauseous, it was cheesier than the mawkish smirk she was wearing as if she had already won.</p><p>The prom campaign had just begun and Karlie already needed a reprieve from Taylor.</p><p>And that reprieve came in the form of sweet Martha Hunt, who hurried to Karlie's side, the slight smile on her face stretching into a beam as she caught sight of the tall girl. "Hi, Karlie," she greeted, far too chirpily for so early in the morning but admirable nonetheless. It was not something many other high schoolers could wrangle unless they were on Disney Channel.</p><p>"Hey, Martha," Karlie replied, feeling the smallest inkling of a smile on her face for the first time since last night. "What can I do for you?"</p><p>"I'll be quick because I have a Home Ec thing to attend to and you probably have places to be and, God, I am so nervous-"</p><p>"Don't be," Karlie said. "Tell me what's on your mind."</p><p>"I was actually wondering if you'd like to go to The Lighthouse with me tonight? It's just a small, casual bistro with a nice beach-y feel to it, it's really nice. Unless you're busy, of course. Or you just don't want to."</p><p>"Stop it, I'd love to," Karlie responded. "What time?"</p><p>"Maybe around five? I'll meet you there?"</p><p>"It's a date," Karlie affirmed with a Cheshire grin.</p><p>The elated expression on Martha's face made it impossible for Karlie not to smile.</p><p>"Great! I'll see you there at five! This is amazing, thank you, Karlie!" Martha responded with a sparkly smile. "I'll see you later, Karlie!"</p><p>Karlie waved goodbye to Martha before strolling over to the library, quite surprised at how easily she was smiling now, given how dolorous and woeful she had felt a mere moment ago. She walked into the quiet library, opting to distract herself as much as possible from She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named with some Computer Science homework.</p><p>Only for the devil to glide into the library, an armful of posters in tow.</p><p>She locked eyes with Karlie, either oblivious to the hurt and anger in Karlie's eyes or deliberately ignoring it for her own purposes and drifted over to Karlie, her intentions made abundantly clear by the devilish smirk on her face.</p><p>"Hi, baby. I wasn't able to stop thinking about you last night," she greeted breathlessly once she was close enough with a flutter of her eyelashes.</p><p>"I wasn't able to stop thinking about you either and the fact that you made it obvious that I wasn't good enough for you because I don't drive a sports car or live in a mansion and because I actually have to work for things I want," Karlie seethed.</p><p>"Why don't you come over to my house tonight, Karlie, so we can sort all of this out? I could relieve some of that obvious stress for you," Taylor purred, running a slender, manicured finger through Karlie's hair. "We could watch a movie, eat some popcorn. Maybe you could help me with my homework again."</p><p>"See, I don't think I will, Taylor. Martha Hunt asked me if I wanted to go to The Lighthouse with her and unlike someone else, I know, she isn't embarrassed by me or afraid to be seen in public with me. She likes me for who I am and again, unlike someone else I know, she's friendly and nice to be around."</p><p>"Karlie, baby, Vanessa will be having a sleepover at a friend's house and you know that my parents are barely ever home. Why don't we finish what we started, hm?"</p><p>"Not interested," was the firm reply.</p><p>Taylor retracted her hand as a heavy blush appeared on her face. She was not the type of person used to rejection, Karlie was not sure she had ever experienced it, and her wounded pride was unmissable. Without another word, she slunk away back into the library shelves, her head high but the sting of rejection prominent in her shaky walk and flushed cheeks but Karlie paid her no mind.</p><p>She had a date to look forward to anyway.</p><p>If Karlie's subconscious throughout the day was telling her that it was somewhat malicious to go on a date with another girl the exact day after asking another girl out or whatever she had actually asked Taylor to do with her, Karlie ignored it. Taylor had put an end to any sort of romantic possibilities between them, so it was not as if she was cheating or anything.</p><p>So why would that relentlessly nagging feeling continue to persist?</p><p>Forget that feeling, she needed to conserve her energy for English class today because her essay had been forsaken in favor of Computer Science. At least being reprimanded for her rushed work would take her mind off Taylor. </p><p>"Hey, Josh," Karlie said, sliding next to her unresponsive friend.</p><p>When the other boy did not turn away, Karlie prodded him gently, waiting for a reply. "Joshua..." she tried again, to no avail. "Joshua Kushner!"</p><p>That got Josh's attention, as well as the interest of a couple of other nosy students. "Hi, um, hi, Karlie."</p><p>"Took you long enough," Karlie teased. "What's going on?"</p><p>"Nothing," Joshua replied simply but the reddened nature of his face said it all. </p><p>Then again, he may have just been startled. He was unusually shy. The first time Karlie spoke to him, it must have taken him about ten minutes into the conversation before he mumbled more than a sentence to her. Still, she found it endearing and persisted until she had made one of her closest friends. </p><p>"What's going on, Karlie?" He asked once the nosier students had turned away. </p><p>"I'm going on a date tonight, that's what," she replied excitedly. </p><p>"Really? That's amazing, who with?" </p><p>"Martha Hunt," Karlie said sweetly.</p><p>Joshua was silent for a moment- oddly quiet, even for him. He creased his eyebrows gently and cocked his head ever so slightly, to Karlie's concern. </p><p>"Is there a problem?" Karlie asked. </p><p>"No, not at all," Josh replied. "Just didn't see that coming. That's all."</p><p>"Fair enough. But it's happening and I'm very excited."</p><p>That was what she felt, genuinely so. Except perhaps she had to verbally affirm that more than she experienced it. </p><p>*</p><p>Karlie turned up at The Lighthouse at forty-five past, ready to meet Martha at five. At Summer's behest, Karlie had stopped off at her house and swapped her Rolling Stones tee-shirt for a grey blazer and white tee-shirt ("you look hot but not like you're thinking of proposing" she had been told when she texted her friend and sent a picture) before informing Stella that she was spending the evening with a friend. Her grandmother had smiled curiously at her, as if she knew that there was something else occurring but let Karlie be on her way without another word.</p><p>Martha arrived not too long after, in a highly flattering floral sundress, looking just as radiant and joyful as she had this morning. Karlie honestly found that to be a particularly admirable trait, she could barely maintain her joviality for seven hours without a blunt (or Taylor), but Martha just seemed to constantly exude happiness.</p><p>"Hi, Karlie," she greeted. "Sorry, I'm late, I was doing some baking and I spilt flour all down my top, so I had to rush home and change."</p><p>"Not a problem," Karlie replied. "You look really pretty."</p><p>"Thank you, so do you, you look really... hot," a flustered Martha said.</p><p>"I was hoping you'd think that. So, I've never been here before, what do you recommend?" Karlie asked, grabbing one of the menus.</p><p>"Well, the burgers here are to die for, in my opinion but they do a great selection of fish too."</p><p>"Any vegan options you think are good?"</p><p>"Oh, you're vegan!" Martha exclaimed. "Oh, my God, I should have checked, I am so sorry! We can go someplace else if you'd like!"</p><p>"No, no, it's okay, I'll have this quinoa salad and stuffed peppers, it's marked vegan and it honestly sounds delicious."</p><p>"Okay. If you're sure..."</p><p>"I'm sure," Karlie replied.</p><p>The pair settled into a comfortable silence for the next moment, happy to peruse the menu and listen to the quiet music in the restaurant blending in with the sound of harmonious customers and hard-working staff until Martha broke the silence.</p><p>"So, Karlie, I was hoping that you wo- oh, my God..." Martha trailed off, looking behind Karlie's head, her eyes wide and jaw slack.</p><p>Karlie, whose back was facing the entrance to the door, turned around to see what had captured Martha's attention, only for her to gape at the sight. Taylor Swift was standing in the doorway in a slimming red floor-length dress, sequined and beaded with a large split as if she were a vintage Hollywood movie starlet. Her long blonde hair was styled into pinned-up ringlets and her signature crimson lipstick was affixed to her lips like warpaint. It was far too formal and elegant for a casual, bohemian after-school hangout, which meant that Taylor had dressed this way for a reason.</p><p>And that reason became abundantly clear the second she locked eyes with Karlie, an unclear, but dangerous gleam in her eye as she glided across the room, revealing her date to Karlie with a satisfied smirk as she clasped his hand.</p><p>Taylor's date was, in Karlie's opinion and most likely Taylor's as well, the world's most effortlessly boring person in existence.</p><p>His name was Joe Alwyn and he was a new student hailing from London. Karlie could see why Taylor would have asked him to accompany her, he had that old-world Hollywood charm about him and a striking accent that made all of the girls in school swoon as if they had never heard of Idris Elba or Henry Cavill. And even then, Karlie was convinced by this point that half the guys in her school either wanted to be him or be with him at this point. Sometimes they looked at him more than their girlfriends did. Yet no matter how many heads turned to look at him, the focus would always be drawn back to Taylor. The girl of all envy. He did exactly what she would want him to do, he lifted her up, made her look all the more powerful and glamorous without taking the attention off Taylor.</p><p>A perfect choice for a prom queen.</p><p>And hey, going on a date with the Taylor Swift presumably had a lot of benefits for him too.</p><p>But by God, he was boring.</p><p>Karlie rolled her eyes and turned back to face Martha. "You were saying?"</p><p>She couldn't see the furious scowl on Taylor's face as she skulked to the table near Karlie but she did see it when she shoved Joe down onto the seat and immediately climbed onto his lap, perfectly aligning his face with her cleavage. Karlie saw Taylor roll her eyes slightly at the boy's blatant excitement but she soon replaced it with a cheesy grin as she began to stroke Joe's blonde hair and look at him as if he were the most fascinating man in the universe.</p><p>"Well, I was just saying that the bake sale went so well that we're having another one in three weeks' time, to raise funds for the Student Leadership Council, for prom stuff. Summer mentioned that you made a really healthy but killer hedgehog slice, and I was hoping that maybe you could make one for the next bake sale," Martha explained.</p><p>"I would love to do that! Are you excited for prom?"</p><p>"Oh, my God, yes! I've been thinking about it since forever! Truthfully," Martha said with a warm blush that evoked a small smile from Karlie. "I've secretly always dreamed about being crowned prom queen ever since middle school. I kind of wanted to start a campaign, but then I realized it was foolish and I never bothered."</p><p>"Why would it be foolish?" Karlie asked. "You're very sweet and kind and you're involved with the school and stop me if I'm being too forward, but you're very, very gorgeous. Like, you could easily be a model."</p><p>Martha blushed even harder the second time and ducked her head out of mild embarrassment, giving Karlie a very much unwanted view of Taylor sat on Joe's lap and hungrily snogging him as if her life depended on it.</p><p>"Thanks, Karlie," she said. "But truth be told, there's no way I'd win even if I did run. Prom queen is a popularity contest and there is no going up against Taylor Swift."</p><p>Karlie took Martha's soft hand into her own and looked into her eyes with full sincerity when she said, "Martha, babe, you would be a far more deserving prom queen than Taylor Swift could ever hope to be."</p><p>There was a chance she also raised her voice to a louder tone than she had previously used, loud enough for Taylor to hear her.</p><p>She found out very quickly that Taylor did indeed hear her when she detached herself from Joe's lips (not that the starstruck boy even noticed) to look up and frown at Karlie. They locked eyes and immediately, Karlie noticed a shift into Taylor's mood from one of annoyance and slight frustration to one of sheer anger and... hurt? There, in between the crease of her eyebrows and the darkened hue of her sapphire eyes, she observed the slightest flicker of anguish and heartbreak.</p><p>Karlie could practically feel her bravado slipping away as guilt snuck into her subconscious instead.</p><p>It disappeared as quickly as it came, with Taylor instantly withdrawing her venomous gaze and returning to meet Joe's eyes, who had finally recognized that he and Taylor were no longer kissing for the entire eatery to see.</p><p>"Something wrong, darling?" Joe murmured, unaware of the second eye roll he had evoked from Taylor since entering the restaurant.</p><p>"No, baby, I just needed a second to breathe. You're just so hot, honey, it overwhelms me," Taylor purred, playing with the zip on his jacket. "Best lover I ever had."</p><p>Karlie knew that Taylor was exaggerating and didn't mean what she said but the comment still managed to tear away at her confidence and instill the slightest twinge of heartache into her, even whilst she sat amicably chatting with Martha.</p><p>Still, Taylor had her chance with Karlie, and she had made it clear that she did not want to pursue anything further with the other girl. For her to turn up at Karlie's date in a jealous rage as if Karlie were cheating on her by seeing Martha was as equally hurtful as the rejection itself.</p><p>She wasn't giving in, no matter how sorrowful she felt.</p><p>"I'm sorry, Martha, what were you saying?"</p><p>"Oh, it was nothing, my dog Bear just stole my favorite cardigan this morning. He went to puppy school and everything but it's just one habit he hasn't been able to break. Maybe he will one day, hopefully."</p><p>"He sounds adorable, I'm hoping you have a picture of him."</p><p>"Of course, right here," Martha giggled, holding up her phone.</p><p>The late afternoon morphed into an early dusk as Martha and Karlie chatted the night away. Karlie found it was surprisingly easy to block out the disgusting sounds of Taylor and Joe kissing for the whole restaurant to hear when she was around Martha. For a brief moment, she forgot the burning pain in her heart that had settled there ever since last night.</p><p>It was nice.</p><p>Taylor and Joe left as Karlie and Martha playfully squabbled over who would pick up the cheque. Martha insisted that, as she asked Karlie out, she should pay whilst Karlie insisted that in keeping with her gentlemanliness, would be more than happy to pay. Eventually, they agreed to split the bill and giggled over it so much so that it almost drowned out the furious sound of Taylor's heels clacking on the floor.</p><p>Almost.</p><p>"I really enjoyed myself tonight, Karlie," Martha said, a rosy blush creeping up her pale cheeks as they walked out of The Lighthouse.</p><p>The late stages of dusk had settled into Nashville, with the lavender skyline transformed into a lilac sea, dotted with islands of constellations and stars. Martha and Karlie stood outside the restaurant, the warm air sweet and fragrant and the cosmopolitan rush of Nashville opening Karlie's eyes to the endless array of opportunities that awaited her.</p><p>"So did I," Karlie replied.</p><p>"Would we be able to do this again soon?"</p><p>"I would love that," Karlie told her kindly, admiring the hopeful gleam in Martha's eyes.</p><p>Martha leaned in ever so slightly, her lips hovering near the corner of Karlie's mouth. "I would love it too," she whispered before placing a chaste kiss to her face.</p><p>Now Karlie was blushing too, though it was less visible than it was on Martha, who stood under the pale glow of the streetlamp.</p><p>"I'll see you soon, Martha," Karlie said. "Really soon, I hope."</p><p>"Bye, Karlie," Martha countered with a small wave before walking off into the lilac dusk.</p><p>Karlie walked off not long after with a capacious smile on her face and an exultant glint in her eye, completely oblivious to the sandy-haired girl in a Burberry trench coat blinking back tears as she was escorted into her car.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Little Miss Perfect</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Is it truly possible to miss an enemy?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Her soft lips grazed Karlie's mouth ever so lightly, chaste, and gentle. Karlie instinctively slipped her hands around her waist, pulling her in closer. There was no urgency nor need this time around, just something lazy and soft instead.</p><p>"Hey, dorks!" Cara interrupted. "Get a room!"</p><p>Martha pulled away from Karlie with a chuckle and a soft blush as Karlie rolled her eyes at her friend's antics and Ashley playfully admonished her girlfriend. "Oh, please, remember when you and Ashley first started going out and you started making out in the middle of Science class? That was disgusting. I'm permanently scarred."</p><p>"Oh, please, we were studying Chemistry. I thought the class could use a visual example," Cara justified.</p><p>"I mean, I thought it was helpful," Ashley joked.</p><p>Amidst the general chatter and laughter of the group, Karlie's eyes drifted to the other side of the hallway, where Taylor stood next to Abigail and Selena. Usually by now, she would have said something snarky or acerbic, with the goal of provoking Karlie but today she was yet to acknowledge the other girl's presence. It was as if it hurt her to look at Karlie, given how determinedly she stared at the ground, looking up only to give Selena a weak smile as she finished recounting an anecdote that Abigail found hilarious.</p><p>The thing is, when you spend months with a person, familiarizing yourself with every inch of their face, when something changes about it, something indistinct and small, you can't help but take notice of it.</p><p>Karlie recognized the slight tinge of greyish purple under Taylor's eyes, where a sign of fatigue slipped through the cracks of a Maybelline mask. There was a minor crookedness in her eyeliner and stray hairs out of place.</p><p>Even her smile, which was generally smug and self-assured as she primped and preened and waltzed through the school, seemed careworn and tired and there was a slight glossiness to her pale blue eyes.</p><p>Crying.</p><p>She had been crying.</p><p>But about what, Karlie did not know.</p><p>It wasn't for her to know anyway; Taylor had made that clear.</p><p>Besides, Karlie had more important things to do than think about Taylor Regio. She had a spare period, so she had promised Martha that she would hang up posters for her prom queen campaign.</p><p>Karlie was about to look away and direct her attention back to Martha, only for her and Taylor to lock eyes, allowing Karlie to look at how truly watery and hollow her eyes were, deep-set and sunken unlike their regular healthy, luminous cerulean selves and Karlie would be lying if she said the sight didn't pull at her heartstrings ever so slightly.</p><p>Still, she had given Taylor a chance. She had laid it bare for Taylor, and Taylor had fucked up.</p><p>Majorly fucked up.</p><p>She didn't care about how Karlie felt when she and Alex Andrade were slobbering all over each other at The Lighthouse so why should she feel the slightest bit of sympathy for Taylor, who had caused all this drama to begin with?</p><p>Still, Karlie was struggling to gloss over the small but ever-growing part of her that wanted to pad over to Taylor and kiss her tears away and hold her close, just as she did in Taylor's bedroom only a short few days ago. She absolutely abhorred that feeling, it was almost shameful, feeling that way about someone who had treated her so poorly, and what's more, she was thinking about it with her girlfriend right next to her.</p><p>Well, not quite her girlfriend yet, though it seemed to be progressing in that direction rather rapidly.</p><p>They had gone out again since meeting up at The Lighthouse. Martha had suggested the Noodle Junction as a potential date spot, but that brought up a myriad of despondent feelings within Karlie and she had been quick to shoot it down, citing a dislike of noodles.</p><p>Cara was quick to warm up to Martha, cracking a multitude of inappropriate jokes that resulted in Ashley slapping her arm and Martha and Karlie turning extreme shades of crimson red on several occasions, though she was undeterred. Martha even shocked the group with a few risqué comments herself, to Cara's blatant delight, Ashley's surprise, and Karlie's private amusement.</p><p>Blanche was yet to meet Martha, though she had hinted at wanting to several times, and Karlie had provided a non-committal though still hopeful response. Blanche had taken that as enough for now, knowing that her granddaughter would introduce them when she was ready, choosing not to push Karlie into something she did not want to do.</p><p>All in all, an almost seamless start to a budding relationship.</p><p>Almost.</p><p>The part that stung most was how Taylor looked at Martha and Karlie, at least, when Karlie caught her looking. Generally, it would be expected that Taylor would say something brash and rude and offensive, something completely devastating and humiliating to her, but something that Karlie would understand as a message. But today, it appeared as though it physically hurt Taylor to look at them.</p><p>"I'll see you later," Karlie said to Martha, gently squeezing her arm.</p><p>"Sure! And thank you so much for offering to put up those posters, Karlie!"</p><p>Martha gave Karlie a playful little salute before joining the herd of students in the corridor. Cara and Ashley departed soon after, leaving Karlie alone to try her hardest to ignore a forlorn Taylor standing near her. Karlie turned around, opening her locker, only to hear the familiar clicking of heels steadfastly approaching her. She didn't even have to face the other way to know who it was, she would recognize the perfume wafting towards her from a mile away.</p><p>The question was, did she want to turn around and face her?</p><p>Karlie could hear the shuffling of feet and the scent was even stronger now, Taylor was inching closer towards her, with none of her regular grandeur nor courage, she could tell purely by the way Taylor carried herself from the hunched shadow cast on the floor to the gentle steps she took. But whatever this was, Karlie was not going to afford Taylor another second of her time. Taylor had been intimate, vulnerable with her before, and all it led to was a damning reminder of the fact that Taylor thought she was above the other girl, that Karlie would never be good enough for her.</p><p>"Karlie-" Taylor began softly, only to be cut off by the bell.</p><p>Karlie swiped the posters that she had stored in her locker and slammed the door shut, not even bothering to look in Taylor's direction before sidestepping the cheerleader and heading off to class, ignoring the soft pitter-patter of heels behind her.</p><p>*</p><p>The day passed by pleasantly enough, with Karlie hanging up all of Martha's posters in record time and ensuring everyone knew that there was a second candidate in the running for prom queen. Well, there had been more than one to begin with but Martha was much more involved in school affairs than the other candidates were. </p><p>"So, you and Martha are a thing now?" Andrea asked Karlie on their way to class.</p><p>"Yeah, well, it's not official yet but things are going really well," Karlie replied.</p><p>"Oh, I'm glad, you two are so cute together! Don't you think so, Lena?"</p><p>"Yeah, Martha's really nice," Lena commented absent-mindedly, her focus on her girlfriend, who was beaming from ear-to-ear and gently squeezing Lena's hand. "And apparently she's running for prom queen too? That's ballsy, considering she's against Regio."</p><p>"Well, she's got my vote," Andrea said cheerfully. "I love Martha, she always brings these really tasty lemon squares to our animal rights club meetings."</p><p>"I'll vote for her too," Lena added. "This is our turn, see you later, Karlie."</p><p>"Bye, you two. And thanks for voting for Martha, she'll feel great knowing she has supporters!"</p><p>The pair waved Karlie off before splitting into a separate corridor, hand-in-hand. She was completely serious about telling Martha what Andrea and Lena said, for she knew that despite the brave front she was putting up, the baker was feeling quite nervous about running for prom queen against Taylor. Taylor viewed the title as practically being her birthright, and Karlie knew that she wanted the crown more than anything, which meant that she would go above and beyond to obtain it.</p><p>But right now, Karlie was about to be late for Computer Science, which would be a first for her. She hurried into the computer laboratory, barely sliding into her seat next to Cara before the class began.</p><p>"What's with you, Taylor?" Cara asked. "Were you and Martha necking behind the school or something, cause you're never late for Comp Sci. It's the one subject where you actually try."</p><p>Even though she knew Cara was just joking, Karlie could feel the aside about "necking behind the school" breaking through a dam of repressed memories of her and Taylor behind the Science conglomerate or in the deserted car park, their hands freely roaming and their hearts furiously beating. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, as if people around would know what exactly was going through her mind.</p><p>Karlie could feel Cara's stare on her, and rather than be forced to lie to her friend again about her love life, she shot the Brit a friendly smile as if to say 'what are you talking about? I'm fine!' and put her head down, concentrating on her work.</p><p>The next time she felt some form of reprieve was at lunch time, when the growling of her stomach drew her mind away from Taylor's lips and onto the quinoa salad she would soon be stuffing herself silly with instead. Cara joined her on her way to her locker, though they split up when Cara joined Ashley. Fortunately, Karlie was not alone for long, as Martha soon sidled up to her, to Karlie's enjoyment.</p><p>The hallway was bustling and loud, with students amicably moving from class to class, shuffling along with their friends, some talking and laughing, others lamenting and moaning about their ever-growing pile of homework.</p><p>Martha and Karlie were standing by Martha's locker, amicably chatting as they watched the world go by, almost oblivious to the chaos surrounding them at the height of the lunchtime rush as hordes of pupils descended upon the locker bay to relieve themselves of their books and work before travelling to the cafeteria.</p><p>"They really said that?" Martha squealed over the cacophony of students around them. "Oh, that's so sweet, I'm making extra lemon squares for Andrea next week!"</p><p>"That's a great idea, Martha! You should start sharing your bakes, I'm sure it would be far more appreciated than anything the cafeteria has to offer."</p><p>"You really think so?"</p><p>"I know so!"</p><p>Martha pulled her in for a brief hug, resting her head on Karlie's chest. It was sweet and loving and it was something that Martha was unafraid of doing, even in the throes of a plethora of their peers.</p><p>And that's why Karlie couldn't help but feel a surge of guilt when a second wave of thoughts flooded her head, thoughts of Taylor holding her hand as they walked to class, like Andrea and Lena did so lightheartedly, or of her and Taylor sharing a dance at the prom, a crown fixed to the cheerleader's head.</p><p>She tried to drown them out with the pandemonium surrounding them, anything to block out her current train of thought, but not even a wall-to-wall drove of students was capable of diminishing the sound an angry Taylor Regio's Louboutin heels made as they thundered down the corridor. Taylor had it in for Martha, that much was clear. In her eyes, Martha had taken something that belonged to her and now she was after something else of hers too.</p><p>"Martha," Taylor greeted, completely sidelining Karlie as she stepped into view. "I hear you're running for prom queen. Against me."</p><p>"Well, I mean, that is my poster you're holding scrunched up in your hand there, Taylor," Martha replied.</p><p>Karlie bit back a laugh as a flushed Taylor tossed her hair back slightly, smarting from Martha's comment. Despite her brave front, Karlie could tell that Martha was somewhat intimidated and so she grabbed the other girl's hand and clasped it in hers, pretending not to notice the briefly forlorn expression on Taylor's face before it was masked by a quiet fury.</p><p>"Well, I just wanted to wish you the best of luck," Taylor said kindly, almost eliciting a smile from Martha until she spoke next. "I hope that you don't lose by too much, I would hate for you to feel embarrassed when you realize that this entire campaign was for nothing. Goodbye now."</p><p>"I know I shouldn't feel scared," Martha said to Karlie after Taylor left. "But I sort of do."</p><p>"Don't let her scare you, babe. She's a Chihuahua who wants to be a Doberman. She's nothing."</p><p>Karlie turned away, noticing how Taylor's strut had momentarily paused and her shoulders slumped ever so briefly before she picked herself up and continued to sail down the hallway. She had almost been successful before she recognized the sweater Taylor was wearing and realized that it was the one she had loaned her after her top was ruined.</p><p>Did Taylor miss her?</p><p>And did she miss Taylor?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Treacherous</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It turns out that it's possible indeed...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Come the next day, Karlie was early to school again. A long and delightful conversation with Martha had pushed English homework far out of her mind and meant that it needed to be completed before the first period instead.</p><p>The library had a surprising number of people in it for so early in the morning. A fair few students, like Karlie, had obviously left their homework to the last minute but still had time to stop at McDonald's for a 'shit, shit, it's too early in the morning for me to have any energy but I have urgent homework due' coffee and a muffin.</p><p>As she sat down, a half-typed essay ready to be completed, she noticed that many of her classmates seemed preoccupied by something else. There was a flurry of whispers being passed around by her peers, and from the snatches of conversation, Karlie could distinguish the words 'Taylor' and 'Joe' and 'something big'.</p><p>Privately, Karlie's hope would be that they had split up, though she chastised herself a moment later for thinking of such a thing when she was seeing Martha. It felt almost like cheating to be thinking of Taylor and hoping that she was single.</p><p>And especially after Martha had been nothing but kind and sweet to her.</p><p>Still, she could at least let one small part of her reminisce about what could have been. As long as it was only a small part. Realistically, she and Taylor had only ever talked... three times? From memory? </p><p>They still meant something. </p><p>To Karlie, at least. </p><p>But to Taylor, they evidently held no value, and therefore Karlie owed it to herself to at least try and make this work. </p><p>Karlie didn't see Martha until lunchtime. She walked over to Martha's locker and the pair ambled over to the canteen, chatting amicably as they did so. "So, I have work until two, but I can come over later if that's okay," she said.</p><p>"Oh, that's fine," Martha replied, intertwining her fingers with Karlie. "I have a vegan cupcake recipe I've been meaning to try out, so I'll have those ready for you."</p><p>"I'll be counting down the minutes."</p><p>"I can't wa- what is that?"</p><p>A heart made from red rose petals was blocking Karlie's path, not to mention the gathering of students eagerly crowding around it. Karlie could hear her classmates murmuring and speculating about the mysterious heart. It was prom related, of that, Karlie had no doubt but who it was for, Karlie didn't know. Taylor would have been the obvious choice, but she had seen a truly adorable promposal from one of the basketballers for his girlfriend the other day. So, Karlie was happy to stay and observe, maybe pick up some ideas for Cara, who had been debating her promposal to Ashley. Until Joe Alwyn stepped into view, his hair slicked back and a tight black suit highlighting his every feature, and Karlie realized what was happening.</p><p>She was going to watch someone else prompose to her ex.</p><p>No, no, not her ex.</p><p>They were never a thing.</p><p>Joe was smoothing down his suit and running a hand through his hair as even more students clustered around him, whispering and observing. He kept looking down the hallway and then turning to mutter to his friend, who Karlie noticed was holding something concealed by a red blanket.</p><p>"We should probably get going," Karlie said quietly to Martha.</p><p>"Oh, you can go ahead, I'll meet you there," she replied.</p><p>"It's fine, I'll stay here."</p><p>She didn't know why. Why would she willingly subject herself to something she knew was going to hurt her, she had no idea. Maybe it was because a tiny part of her believed that Taylor would look at her and remember what they had shared together and would turn Joe down, though the more rational side of her knew that wasn't the case and that chances of a reconciliation between them were less than zero at this point.</p><p>Karlie was brought out of her reverie by the familiar clicking of Louboutin heels on the floor and the customary perfume wafting towards her, Abigail and Selena by her side. Joe cleared his throat for the final time and stepped into the center of the heart.</p><p>Taylor stopped and loudly gasped at the sight, her free hand flying up to her chest and her handbag nearly falling on the floor. Selena and Abigail had similar reactions, with the pair giggling and nearly tripping over each other at the sight as Taylor walked towards Joe.</p><p>"Is this for me?" she asked, a huge smile plastered on her face but her tone dripping with false shock, she already knew the answer.</p><p>"Taylor, princess," Joe began, stepping forward, taking Taylor's hands into his own.</p><p>Karlie hoped nobody heard her the low groan that came out of her throat.</p><p>"You are, in a word, sensational and without a doubt the hottest girl at this school. You deserve the world and I barely feel worthy of you, nobody in this universe is. And that's why I have only one thing to ask you. Patrick, if you wouldn't mind..."</p><p>Patrick walked over to Joe and Taylor, box in hand. Joe released his grip on Taylor and uncovered the box, pulling out a small ball of fluff with soft blue eyes.</p><p>A kitten.</p><p>He gave her a fucking kitten.</p><p>"Kitten, will you go to prom with me?"</p><p>The cat in question was handed off to Abigail as Taylor pulled Joe in for a kiss, wrapping one arm around him and the other tugging at his tie. Joe responded with even more gusto, like an overeager puppy presented with a sizeable piece of meat.</p><p>Karlie could feel her stomach lurching as she looked with abject horror and disgust at the hideous display. Back at The Lighthouse, Karlie had been a lot less jealous, given how angry she had felt at the time. But those feelings of animosity had been melted away by the curse of time, and now the sight of Taylor kissing someone else with all of the gusto that she once used to caress Karlie made the taller girl feel undoubtedly repulsed and, above all, hurt, not that she would soon voice such sentiments.</p><p>It was stupid puppy love because of how open she and Taylor had been with each other back at her house recently.</p><p>Martha made a gesture remindful of vomiting as Joe pulled Taylor even closer into him. Some of their peers whooped and cheered appreciatively, though Karlie noticed several envious glares from some of the cheerleaders and the football team members alike.</p><p>"Party at my place tomorrow night!" Taylor called out, detaching her lips from Joe's face. " All of the upperclassmen are invited!"</p><p>A chorus of cheers and excitement rang through the corridors, a pitiful sound reverberating in Karlie's ears as her heart thumped louder against her chest and Martha's hand felt more like a lock than an act of intimacy.</p><p>An act of intimacy that, unbeknownst to Karlie, had been noticed by Taylor, who wrapped herself around Joe once more and gave him an, albeit shorter, but still seemingly passionate kiss.</p><p>She would be lying if she said she hadn't considered the idea of going to prom with Taylor. Briefly, back when they were talking, the night before she went to Taylor's house, she had entertained the thought of taking Taylor to prom, the cheerleader in a beautiful blue dress that complemented her eyes, but only for the smallest moment before she fell asleep, a smile on her face.</p><p>She had cried herself to sleep the next night.</p><p>"Oh, that sounds exciting, doesn't it?" Martha said, turning to Karlie.</p><p>Karlie wrinkled her brow in confusion as she looked at Martha's beaming face. "Did you really want to go? She's so awful, especially towards you."</p><p>"Well, I don't want to go for her but I am running a prom campaign now so I really need to be social and this would be a great way to do it. Besides everyone will be there, so I don't think I need to worry about running into her often."</p><p>"I guess..."</p><p>"Do you not want to go?"</p><p>"Well..."</p><p>Karlie had no idea how to respond to that question. If she was honest, Martha might think that she was just a rebound and furthermore, whilst she wholeheartedly believed that Martha was not the gossiping type, if any of her friends, and especially Cara found out about Taylor, all hell would break loose. Still, she was struggling to come up with a valid reason as to why she couldn't, and she didn't want to be anymore deceitful than she already had been.</p><p>"I'll go if you're going."</p><p>"Yay!" Martha squealed and squeezed Karlie's hand slightly.</p><p>"What is all of this?" a voice asked, coming closer to the debacle.</p><p>Immediately, students started backing away, murmuring about getting to the cafeteria before the hot food was gone and about the impending lunchtime detentions that were soon to occur as Mrs. Waldemine's voice cut through the excited crowd.</p><p>"What is this mess on the floor? Why is there a cat on school property? Why are you all blocking this hallway?" the teacher asked, glaring at Joe.</p><p>"A promposal for my sweetheart, Missus Waldemine," he replied with a roguish smile.</p><p>"How nice. You and your sweetheart can clean those rose petals up and then you can take the pet home before the next period starts and if you don't have time then you leave it with Betty. I don't know what kind of circus they're running in Los Angeles or London, but in this school, but here we don't allow students to run amok. Get to work."</p><p>Joe gave Taylor a sheepish grin as students began dispersing, only to receive an eye roll and a huff of annoyance in response. "I can clean this up," he offered. "Go enjoy your lunch, babydoll."</p><p>Taylor didn't even offer a response as she walked off with Abigail (who was still holding the cat) and Selena in tow. The last few students picked up a few rose petals for Joe and left, including Karlie and Martha, though Karlie avoided contact with Joe at all cost.</p><p>"That was really sweet, Joe," Martha said.</p><p>"Thanks, Martha. Truthfully, I'm surprised she said yes, I was worried that she would end up going with Adam Wiles instead."</p><p>"Why would you think that? She's your girlfriend, isn't she?"</p><p>Karlie felt her stomach drop.</p><p>"Yeah, but Adam is slated to be prom king and she's going to be- never mind."</p><p>Karlie felt her heart stop.</p><p>"No harm done. I'll see you later, Joe."</p><p>"Bye, Martha, bye, Karlie."</p><p>Karlie tried not to be sick as Martha took her hand and led her to the cafeteria. </p><p>Cara and Ashley had been lost to the horde of students but she found Joshua tucked away in the corner, head bowed down. It was not unusual for him to ensconce himself within the crevices of the school to avoid his rambunctious classmates but this particular instance seemed off for him. </p><p>"Hey, Joshua," Karlie greeted softly. "You still trying to keep from throwing up after that promposal too?"</p><p>"Um, sure," he mumbled in response. </p><p>"Are you okay?" Karlie asked. "You want to talk about it?"</p><p>"It's fine, Karlie," Josh replied, though his tone said the exact opposite. </p><p>She could relate. </p><p>"You going to join us for lunch before we're left with the really shitty food?" </p><p>"Not today. I think they're serving bacon or something for lunch today anyway, so, I'll pass. See you around, Karlie." </p><p>Karlie helplessly watched as Josh awkwardly shuffled away without another word. Whatever he said, he was most definitely frustrated about something, and Karlie would try again later when Martha was not around- when it was just the two of them. </p><p>She caught a glimpse of Taylor standing in the corner, looking oddly morose for someone who had just experienced a promposal of sheer envy. Her eyes were downcast despite her phone not being in her hand, as if she were not even remotely satisfied with the sufficient amount of attention she was presently receiving. </p><p>For whatever reason, she looked up and Karlie found herself looking Taylor right in the eye. The other girl was not about to break eye contact, it seemed, and Karlie had no intention of doing so either. Taylor fluttered her lashes and made the smallest step forward, only for Karlie to turn away when Martha tugged at her hand and pulled her closer. Karlie nervously looked back, desperately hoping that by some miracle of luck, Taylor had not seen the brief interaction. Except when she looked back to the corner, those cornflower eyes were nowhere to be seen. For a moment, at least, and then she saw Taylor slinking back into Joe's arms, neither seeming particularly overjoyed. </p><p>Karlie tore her gaze away at that, and looked ahead to Martha. </p><p> </p><p>*</p><p>Karlie had messaged Joshua when she arrived home, just to be sure that he was okay. He gave a response akin to the one he had half-heartedly given earlier, but that was expected of him. Right now, Karlie had a pressing question on her own mind to focus on, and unlike Joshua, she needed a friend's advice. </p><p>"Hey, Cara," Karlie greeted, placing her phone on the bed as she curled up with her laptop.</p><p>"Karlito, my guy, what brings you to my infinite realm of knowledge?"</p><p>"What brings you to smoke the last joint you said you were saving for a special occasion?"</p><p>"I'm not high on weed, my friend, I'm high on life."</p><p>"Great. I'll just call Charles now and ask him if he wants to go into your room and get a hit of that life."</p><p>"Shut up, Karlie. What are you ruining my buzz for anyway?"</p><p>"Taylor's party tomorrow night. Are you going?"</p><p>"Of course. She may be a piece of work, but I'll be damned if her parties aren't the social highlight of the year."</p><p>"Right..." Karlie said, taking in a deep breath.</p><p>"Besides, her house is huge, and it will be so packed, she won't even notice if some of her really expensive perfume goes missing."</p><p>"Cara," Karlie chastised playfully. "You can't go to someone's party and steal their shit, even if they are fucking terrible."</p><p>"But I need it to mask the smell of life in my bedroom."</p><p>"Use that cleaning spray you had the last time I came over, that was strong."</p><p>"Ashley says the smell reminds her of her mom, and if she's thinking of her mom then she is not in the mood to do other things."</p><p>"Thanks, Cara, I needed that mental image."</p><p>"You're welcome, babe. But what was the purpose of this call? Is it something with Martha? Is Blanche okay?"</p><p>"Blanche and Martha are fine, thanks, Karlie. No, I just wanted to see if you were going to Taylor's party."</p><p>"Oh, okay. Why, is something up with that?"</p><p>"Nope, nothing," Karlie responded, perhaps just a bit too quickly. "Just checking."</p><p>"Well, okay then. I'd love to stay and chat but I have to get the life smell out of my room before Pop comes home. Love you, I'll see you tomorrow."</p><p>She closed Skype and opened her Spotify, the soft rain hitting her roof and sliding down her window providing the perfect background sound as 'bury me at makeout creek' started playing on shuffle.</p><p>Even when the cloudy grey sky became a bruise-like purple and Blanche announced that dinner (a vegan lasagna, one of Karlie's favorite meals) was ready, the latter told her grandmother that she was not hungry, and trudged back up to her room, already in her pajamas and ready to go to sleep for the night.</p><p>If tomorrow night never came and Karlie could stay holed up in her room for the rest of her life, this day replaying on a perpetual loop, without the ghastly sight of Taylor locked onto Joe haunting her vision and the twinges of guilt she felt whenever she thought about Taylor's feather-light touch whilst holding Martha's hand.</p><p>But before she knew it, Friday night came and Karlie stood in front of her mirror, tousling her hair the way she knew Tay- Martha liked it. She had told herself that she hadn't spent any time picking out an outfit that she knew Taylor would like, though she knew that she was not able to face herself in the mirror as she said so.</p><p>She picked up Martha, the baker eager to formally introduce Karlie to her parents but the latter hurriedly but politely refused, stating that if they were late then they would have to park far away from Taylor's house and that she wanted to be near her pick-up truck so she could hear the alarm in case of a break-in. It was a pitifully weak excuse, and Karlie felt almost sick about dashing Martha's hopes like that.</p><p>'Some other time', she told herself.</p><p>Some other time.</p><p>As Karlie pulled up to Taylor's street, she couldn't help but feel a lurching in her stomach as she stepped out of her ute, Martha soon joining her. There was a row of cars lining the road and if Karlie hadn't already familiarized herself with Taylor's house, the loud, thumping music and drove of students gravitating towards the mansion, drinks, and partners in hand would have tipped her off. And if Taylor hadn't been wearing the exact same dress she had worn the last time Karlie went to her house, she might have been able to better prepare herself for what came next.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Wonderland</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>People always lose themselves in the throng of revelry and madness... except they lose others too.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The drive to Martha's home was longer than Karlie expected, or perhaps it just felt longer. Martha had stepped out, beautiful as ever under, even in the glow of Karlie's failing headlights with a small smile on her face. In the distance, she could see two figures that looked like Martha's parents ambling in the distance.</p><p>"Hey, Martha. You look really pretty."</p><p>"Hi, Karlie. Same to you. How much time do we have before we have to go?" Martha asked nervously.</p><p>"Oh, I was going to get a move on now, I can't leave my truck idling, I forgot to fill it up earlier."</p><p>Karlie tried to tell herself that it was for the best that she did not meet Martha's parents, but that didn't stop her from feeling guilty as Martha's face crumpled. "I see. Okay. Let's go," the shorter girl said, pulling Karlie back to the ute. If Karlie subtly refusing to meet Martha's parents was the main reason why they did not talk much during the ride over to Taylor's house, Martha did not express that.</p><p>The party was in full swing by the time Martha and Karlie arrived. The first sight that greeted them was Taylor's best friend Abigail latched onto her boyfriend Matt on the first couple of steps of the escalier. Red Solo cups and chips were already littering the marbled entranceway and the near-deafening sound of cheering, yelling students and the loud bass music was an unwanted assault on Karlie's sense, though, perhaps one she should have expected upon entrance.</p><p>That was nothing, however, to the spectacle on the second floor. Karlie's eyes scanned the area, looking for Cara and Ashley or Andrea and Lena, or Elaine and Joshua but to no avail. Instead, she was afforded no mercy by even the most forgiving karmic gods as a pair of olive-green eyes rested upon a halo of wavy blonde hair and unforgiving roseate lips. A muscular arm reached around a lithe waist as the pair stared down at the horde of excited students gathering in the hallway.</p><p>Regretfully, Taylor's eye line shifted ever so slightly, barely noticeable but all too overpowering for Karlie, who then found herself the direct object of Taylor's view. Content blue eyes softened into mournful pale orbs, almost grey, and although Karlie was far away, she could see something that looked suspiciously like hurt hiding behind a layer of glittering eyeshadow.</p><p>Taylor detached herself from Joe, excusing herself with a polite tap on his arm. Joe looked like he wanted to follow her for a moment, but, presumably, at Taylor's request, he remained on the second floor.</p><p>Taylor glided down the staircase ever so slowly, her eyes locked onto Karlie the entire time. Her hand skimmed over the banister, perfectly manicured fingers with mint green nails scraping against the black metal railing. She was still maintaining eye contact with Karlie, her signature smirk transforming into a softer, gentle grin as she neared Karlie.</p><p>Karlie grabbed Martha's hand, the other girl blushing deeply at the contact, and pulled her into the throng of drinking, laughing, gyrating partygoers, leaving nothing but a solemn, forlorn Taylor Swift in her wake, gripping the banister.</p><p>Wandering around the expansive property (though the number of guests made Taylor's house look much more compact than it had the last time she had visited), Karlie noticed that Gabriela's bedroom was unlocked, presumably by accident. What was even worse, however, was when Karlie took notice of Adam Wiles leading a giggling Rita towards her bedroom.</p><p>She didn't even need to talk to the pair to know what they had in mind.</p><p>"Run," she said to Martha.</p><p>"Where are we going?"</p><p>"I'll explain in a second."</p><p>Thankfully for Karlie, it was evident by Adam and Rita's stumbling that they had clearly been drinking, so it didn't take a sober Karlie and Martha to reach the bedroom before them and claim it.</p><p>"Sorry, guys, we'll be taking this room, find somewhere else."</p><p>"Fuck off, we were here first. And that stupid fucking prude Taylor has locked all of the other bedrooms," Adam growled, his Scottish lilt exaggerated by his aggravated tone and drunken stupor.</p><p>"Find somewhere else, douche."</p><p>Adam drunkenly staggered towards Karlie and for a moment, Karlie was worried that he was going to clock her until Rita tugged on his shirt sleeve and suggested that they find a laundry closet instead, only for Adam to grumble about how "that stupid bitch" had killed the mood and that he was going to play beer pong with his friends instead.</p><p>"They were really drunk," Karlie offered as an explanation, locking the door as soon as the pair left. "It wouldn't have been right. I don't think Cara and Ashley are here yet but I saw Andrea and Lena in the kitchen earlier if you wanted to say hi."</p><p>"So, you didn't want to- okay, that's fine."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"No, nothing, Karlie," Martha responded, her smile too forced for a seemingly casual response, but Karlie didn't press the matter further.</p><p>"Was there something you wanted to do?"</p><p>"Well, I'd really like to introduce you to a close friend of mine. You would know her, obviously, she's in our year level but she's desperate to meet you and more importantly, to humiliate you with embarrassing stories about me, because she's known me since elementary school."</p><p>"I can't think of anyone who would be cruel enough to try and humiliate you, Martha."</p><p>"You're too sweet, Karlie."</p><p>"So, what's her name?"</p><p>"Her name is Jourdan, she's really nice and funny, you'll love her. Not even Taylor has a problem with her."</p><p>Karlie pushed that thought of Taylor to the back of her mind, and resolved to try her hardest to not think of her former paramour for the remainder of the night.</p><p>'Try' being the operative word, of course.</p><p>She wandered.</p><p>She strayed.</p><p>She thought of the passionate, lustful kisses she and Taylor had shared the last time and only time Karlie had come over, and all the kisses that they could have shared, if only their time hadn't run out so soon.</p><p>The fact that Karlie felt a sting of guilt and regret every time she thought of how it would feel to have Taylor pressed against the marble pillars that opened the parlour room only made the idea of pushing the cheerleader out of her mind more convincing.</p><p>Martha was sweet and kind and loyal, and Martha deserved far more than what Karlie was giving her right now. She had to step it up and try harder, if not for herself, then for beautiful Martha.</p><p>*</p><p>Karlie and Martha were happily sequestered in a corner of Taylor's generously-sized living room, chatting with Cara, Ashley and Martha's dear friend Jourdan. She was still yet to see Taylor and Joe, aside from earlier when she saw them at the top of the staircase, drink in hand. That was fine by her. She came here to support Martha, so she was more than okay with not being subjected to them kissing in front of her and secretly wishing that she was Joe's position instead.</p><p>Cara, thankfully, provided Karlie with a hilarious distraction. For all of the marijuana she smoked and her experiences with alcohol being far more vast than Karlie's, the poor Brit could not hold her alcohol if she tried. She had insisted to a skeptical Karlie and Ashley that she was more than capable of handling hard liquor, though she paled in comparison to the expert Lena, who threw back three vodka shots in a row like it was nothing. Given that Cara was giggling at almost anything the girls said, whilst Lena was supporting both herself and a tipsy Andrea, it was easy to see who had been more successful in handling their drinks.</p><p>The vases and picture frames on the mantle were shaking ever so slightly from the thumping of the heavy bass music that flooded the house. Even the delicate china, which Karlie assumed Taylor would have put away prior to the party, but could honestly just as easily replace, was quaking just as much as the family portrait of the four Swifts.</p><p>Looking at Taylor's mother, it was easy to see that there was minimal resemblance between the pair. Where Taylor's golden locks tumbled down her smooth back like dripping honey, Marissa had shoulder-length auburn hair that framed a welcoming, kindly face and where Taylor's eyes were a brilliant cobalt, Marissa's eyes were an almond-shaped ochre. The familial connection was even less apparent between Taylor and her father, Ali, whose naturally tanned skin served only to emphasize the brilliance of his raven eyes, partially covered by shaggy, sable hair.</p><p>Vanessa had a blatant connection to her parents. She had the exact same colored hair as her father, though curlier, and had inherited her eyes directly from her mother. She was a perfect blend of the pair, standing against a striking Taylor, who was just as beautiful, even if she bore no resemblance of her family.</p><p>Karlie couldn't help but wonder how many people were aware of Taylor's secret, or at least suspected it. When she had told Karlie, it was made clear that this was not a discussion that came easily to the cheerleader and that it was something she only told those she was very close to.</p><p>That thought only made their recent separation much more painful, knowing how close they had been, and how much room there was for there to be more between them.</p><p>Karlie was pulled out of her reverie by the sudden cut to the music, and the subsequent groans and complaints that followed. She hadn't even realised that her mind had completely drifted and that she had totally zoned out of the conversation, despite Martha's subtle but firm tugs on her sleeve to reel her back into focus.</p><p>"Oh, the music's stopped," Karlie observed, in an effort to pretend she had been paying attention the entire time.</p><p>"What's going on?" Andrea asked, though no one had an answer.</p><p>That was until Selena Gomez, through the aid of a William Bowen Campbell branded megaphone, demanded that the guests crowd into the entranceway for a "very special announcement". Eager students began making their way to the designated area, with Karlie and her friends being one of the first few to make it there, save for the students that were already milling there, waiting for Selena's important news.</p><p>Taylor was standing center-back, near where the entrance expanded into the hallway, with Joe awkwardly standing behind her, playing with the hem of his shirt. She had an expansive smile on her face, the sweet-as-sugar grin she wore at the top of the pyramid during the cheerleaders' routine, the one that was, in her eyes, going to make her prom queen.</p><p>She did not make eye contact with Karlie once, despite them standing opposite one another. which Karlie was mostly thankful for, if not the slightest bit saddened by.</p><p>"Thanks, everyone!" Selena called out, prowling around the perimeter. "I know you all want to get back to this awesome party, but I couldn't let this night pass by without acknowledging our fabulous host and leading prom queen nominee, Taylor Swift!"</p><p>Selena outstretched her arm, exaggeratedly gesturing towards Taylor like a cheesy game show host. Taylor, ever the diva, blew a kiss, and then another, and then another, followed by a wave that would make Queen Elizabeth jealous. Selena foisted her megaphone unto Abigail for a moment, who gave her a plastic crown in return. She strutted over to a smirking Taylor, who already knew exactly who the crown was for and fixed her hair in preparation.</p><p>Selena placed the crown onto Taylor's head and proceeded to bow down to her as if she had just coronated the other girl. Taylor took the ego boost with as little grace and humility as one would expect from her, giggling and smirking as Selena continued to make a spectacle of the situation.</p><p>"Why, thank you, Selena. What a pleasant surprise. I don't really have much to say, except if you think that this party is amazing, just wait until I win prom queen."</p><p>If the laughter and cheering were loud when Selena was crowning Taylor, then the raucous hurrahs and acclamation that came from the students were positively booming. Thunder couldn't have competed with the rumbles and roars that erupted through the crowd (and probably shattered some of those vases).</p><p>"And, of course, a crown for our other prom queen hopeful," Selena said from behind, pushing Martha out into the open space. "Martha Hunt."</p><p>Martha turned around to face Karlie and the other students, oblivious to a glowering Taylor several feet away from her. She gave a small wave to her peers, nowhere near as caricatural as Taylor's reaction, but instead reserved and shy, though amicable.</p><p>Karlie saw Martha's blushing face break out into a wide and friendly smile, the kind she wore when she showed Karlie videos of her dog or when she brought in a new slice recipe for Karlie and Andrea to try. It was distractingly innocent, the purity of her smile in a darkened room, cursedly so in its unending faith in a cruel world and radiance in a dimly lit room against the shadows of judgment and chastisement that took hold within each of their peers.</p><p>So much so that Karlie didn't see the bucket of malachite-colored slime spew from a rusty bucket and directly onto Martha's head until it was a split-second too late. The pail was cast aside onto the mahogany floor with a resolute clanging that barely masked the tearful gasp of shock from Martha.</p><p>"Happy prom, Martha!"</p><p>The reaction was immediate. Martha was nearly unable to move, slowly shuffling back to Karlie and the group, no other part of her moving save for her legs. Almost eighty percent of the room burst into loud, hideous laughter, exaggerated by their drunken states, though some chuckles felt more forced and required, rather than genuine. Others seemed more sympathetic, and some shook their heads and quietly muttered their disapproval.</p><p>"Go with Lena and Andrea, I'll bring the car around," Karlie muttered softly to a shaky Martha. "I'm so sorry, babe."</p><p>Karlie turned away from Martha, who was quickly being ushered out of the room by the equally sympathetic Andrea and Lena, with Jourdan, Cara, and Ashley in tow, all murmuring soft pleasantries and condolences and 'please don't cry, honey'. For the second time that night, Karlie's eyes locked onto an oddly expressionless Taylor, whose red lips were slightly agape and whose eyes were vacant and distant, instead of crinkled with laughter, like the eyes of her guests.</p><p>That quickly changed, however, when Karlie's face hardened into a smoldering frown, her eyebrows deeply furrowed, her lips a thin line of bleak rose and her eyes a raging shade of moss as she turned on her heel and skulked out of the house, fuming as she did so.</p><p>Only for Taylor, to Karlie's somewhat private shock, to trail behind her.</p><p>"I cannot believe that you would do that to Martha!" Karlie seethed as she stormed out of the house, Taylor rushing behind her.</p><p>"Karlie, I swear-"</p><p>"I mean, I know that you are single-handedly the most selfish, most despicable, most self-obsessed woman on the planet but that is low, Taylor, even for someone as hideous as you! And so goddamn juvenile!"</p><p>"Karlie, please listen, I-"</p><p>"Slime? What are you, ten? You are so fucking vicious, Taylor- and for what? Jealousy? Fun?"</p><p>"It wasn't me! I swear, I had nothing to do with this!"</p><p>"Oh, bullshit, Taylor! At your party, at your house, targeting your rival for prom queen? And you had nothing to do with it? Don't make me laugh!"</p><p>"Karlie, you know me!" Taylor pleaded.</p><p>"No, Taylor, I don't!" Karlie snarled. "I tried to get to know you and you turned me down!"</p><p>"I know and it was a mistake! But, Karlie, I honestly didn't do that to Martha! That was Selena's own doing! That's not me!"</p><p>"How am I supposed to believe that, I don't know you! I don't know anything about you aside from the fact that you're a petty, vindictive, heartless abomination of a human being that likes to rule the school because she doesn't get enough attention at home!"</p><p>"I was myself with you," Taylor murmured. "That afternoon, at my house, I told you things very few people knew about me. I thought, if I couldn't tell you that I was sorry for dismissing you so easily, I could at least show you by opening up to you. But I guess it wasn't as effective as I thought."</p><p>Karlie almost didn't hear her.</p><p>Almost.</p><p>If there was ever something Karlie regretted in life, it was looking up in that very moment to see a pair of rosy cheeks stained with tears and a pair of poignant blue eyes begging for reason and mercy.</p><p>"You really didn't have anything to do with this prank, did you?"</p><p>Taylor shook her head in response, looking down at the earthy ground beneath them. Karlie matched her gaze, wishing that it would devour her whole as immediate feelings of regret and anguish settled into her stomach and seeped into her mind.</p><p>"Taylor, I'm so sorry," Karlie began, rushing forward to close the distance between them. "Taylor, please, from the bottom of my heart, I was angry, and I thought you did it and I was wrong and I should-"</p><p>"Save it, Karlie. You clearly know me better than I thought," came Taylor's chilling reply.</p><p>The watery, powder-blue eyes, an abyssal lake of raw, hurtful truth and revelatory explanations, of Taylor's vulnerability and illuminated by the exposed tears that Karlie selfishly wished Taylor would wipe away had hardened, an impenetrable chip of ice replacing them, her defences raised against Karlie's softened, guilty expression.</p><p>Karlie had fucked up.</p><p>Majorly fucked up.</p><p>"Taylor, I didn't mean what I said, you have to believe me. I was angry and I was lashing out but you have to know that I actually-"</p><p>"I have to believe you, do I? After everything you've just said to me?"</p><p>The ground felt even harder under Karlie's sneakers as she raced to catch up with Taylor, almost tripping over herself in the process as she cried out in desperation behind a sorrowful Taylor, whose stilettos sounded even more menacing than usual, especially when they were storming away from Karlie instead of gravitating towards her like they used to.</p><p>"Taylor, what I said was awful and you have every right to be mad at me but I didn't mean what I said! I really think that you're actually really beau-"</p><p>"You know, Karlie," Taylor began, her tone even more cutting and sharp, straight to Karlie's heart as she stood outside her door. "You were the only person in this whole school who made me feel imperfect. And I loved that about you."</p><p>No sooner than Taylor slammed the front door behind her did Martha reappear from the unlocked side gate, still patting herself down with a stained towel and pulling strands of green out of golden hair.</p><p>"Come on, babe," Karlie said, extending a hand to the shorter girl. "I'll take you home."</p><p>Martha didn't accept Karlie's gesture, instead she batted her hand away and stepped outside onto the street, still avoiding eye contact with her girlfriend as she stormed up the road to Karlie's pick-up truck.</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Afterglow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>There's always a chance...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The water at East Bank Landing was smooth and clear today. Karlie, who was sitting on the bench, watching the dogs walked by their doting owners, the children playing on the embankment with each other, under the eye of nervous parents and the sun gently kiss the glimmering river, felt none of the joyfulness presented to her. A black sweatshirt and a pair of ripped jeans, when everybody else was draped in their patterned daytime dresses or their activewear, drooped on her arms as she waited for Martha to arrive, the sole black swan gliding through a lake of snow-like beauties. </p><p>When she had received the text from her... Martha, the other girl's disappointment and shock was apparent, where love hearts and smiley faces generally decorated Karlie's phone screen, there was a period in place of a laughing emoji and a stern, foreboding tone as opposed to gentle, lighthearted demeanour. </p><p>She had messaged Martha back to see if she was okay and what was ailing her, but was left on read, which only concerned Karlie more. If anyone was well-versed in social etiquette, it was Martha, and she was never one to leave a text message unanswered, least of all a text message from Karlie. </p><p>So, there she sat, alone and concerned, waiting for Martha. </p><p>She didn't have to wait much longer, however, as Martha ambled into view. Her usual bright cardigans and floral sundresses had been removed in favour of a black coat and where Karlie usually saw a smile that went up to azure eyes, was instead a slight frown and sunglasses blocking Karlie's view of a gentle sea. </p><p>"Hi, Martha," Karlie greeted jovially, a small smile cracking onto face. </p><p>"Karlie."</p><p>There was no smile on Martha's face as she sat down, again not making eye contact with Karlie as they watched other people bask in the afternoon sun and soak up each other's presence. </p><p>"I like this place," Martha said softly, breaking the pause. "Peaceful. Serene. Beautiful. It always makes me feel better."</p><p>"I assumed we would visit your place," Karlie said. "I thought you wanted me to meet your parents."</p><p>"Hmm."</p><p>"Are you okay?"</p><p>"So, about last night..." Martha began, ignoring Karlie's question and still not meeting her gaze. </p><p>"That was horrible, I can't believe that they would do that to you! I-"</p><p>"-It's not about the prank, Karlie."</p><p>"What is it then?"</p><p>"I overheard you and Taylor arguing last night. I heard a lot."</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"I mean that you have feelings for Taylor Swift."</p><p>"Martha, I don't-"</p><p>"Don't lie to me, Karlie. I heard you yelling at her, I heard her pleading with you, I heard about you asking her out and her turning you down. When Taylor walked into The Lighthouse in that ridiculous get-up I knew that there was something she was up to, someone that she was making a point to. I just didn't realise that person was you."</p><p>"Martha, I-"</p><p>"God, I'm stupid," the other girl sniffed. "I just need to know- how much time elapsed between you asking her out, and you saying yes to going out with me because you're clearly not over each other."</p><p>If Martha's burning question didn't stump Karlie, her quizzical expression did. It was an emotion she had never seen on Martha before, something cold and distant that didn't belong with her, that contrasted with her normally bright eyes and permanent smile. </p><p>"I'm sorry, Martha. I'm really sorry."</p><p>"How long?"</p><p>"Less than twenty-four hours."</p><p>Saying it aloud, Karlie felt awful.</p><p>Seeing the heartbroken look on Martha's face, Karlie felt like she had just run Bear over. </p><p>"I'm beyond sorry, Martha, I really, truly am. Truth is, I did have feelings for Taylor, I still do, but I genuinely liked going out with you. This wasn't something that I did out of revenge or to get back at Taylor, because I really do think you're sweet. I'm just sorry that I couldn't give you enough. I understand if this isn't something that you would like, but I want to remain friends with you, Martha, if that's possible."</p><p>Martha did not say a word, and Karlie's shoulders slumped even further. </p><p>"And I'd really like to help your campaign for prom queen too. I meant it when I said that you would be a deserving prom queen."</p><p>"I'm withdrawing my nomination for prom queen."</p><p>"What? You can't be serious, you're such a good candidate and-"</p><p>"I have no chance against Taylor Swift. Not for prom queen, nor in any other aspects of life."</p><p>Karlie understood the implication immediately and reached out to grasp Martha's hand in a comforting gesture. "Hey, that's not true-"</p><p>"Don't," she said sternly, retracting her hand. "Not after what you did."</p><p>"Martha, I am so, so, sorry. It was wrong of me to lead you on and I should have been more transparent. Nobody else knew about our arrangement and that's how we wanted it to stay but you and I had something and I shouldn't have kept it from you."</p><p>"You shouldn't have gone out with another girl the very next day either. As much as I hate Taylor, I can't imagine how she must have felt when you asked her out and then saw you with someone else only a day later." </p><p>"I mean, she found someone too, she can't have been too hurt."</p><p>"Karlie," Martha said quietly, turning to look at her. "Do you truly believe that anyone would date Joe Alwyn over you, especially Taylor? She went to that restaurant, to that diner, dressed to the nines, for you."</p><p>"Oh, Taylor..." Karlie sighed, guilt settling in her chest for what felt like the eightieth time this week. "I really screwed up. She did too, but I made it worse."</p><p>"Hmph."</p><p>"But I don't want this to be about Taylor. This is about you and I've hurt you and I want to make amends. Please let me help your prom queen campaign, I really do think that you're amazing and that you deserve to be prom queen."</p><p>"I need space. Time." </p><p>"Of course."</p><p>"I'll call you."</p><p>"Promise?"</p><p>"I promise," Martha affirmed, standing up. "Goodbye, Karlie."</p><p>Karlie watched Martha walk away, her back hunched as her black trench coat almost swallowed her whole. It was heartbreaking, watching Martha hobble away into the distance, knowing that this was her fault. She had damaged a perfectly good heart and all for a relationship that she couldn't have.</p><p>She had really screwed up with Martha. </p><p>She had really screwed up with a lot of people, come to think of it. </p><p>Especially with Taylor. </p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>The next day, she scrawled a quick note and stuffed it into Taylor's locker before she rounded the corner. She had bumped into Martha in her haste, to her total embarrassment. The word 'sorry' had barely escaped her lips before the other girl practically ran off on her, without so much as a word. </p><p>She tried not to think about it as she stood against the Science building, picking at chipped green nail polish as she waited for Taylor to hopefully arrive. </p><p>Ten minutes ago, the sun had shone brightly in the sky, warming Karlie's skin and kissing her face. She had been hoping that she would come, that she would hear the familiar clicking of heels and see the long blonde hair swishing behind her. </p><p>Another two minutes passed and Karlie picked up her bag, resigned to the fact that she wasn't coming. She shouldn't be too surprised, what she had said to Taylor was disgusting but she didn't think that she would ignore her without a response. </p><p>Even if she did deserve the silent treatment. </p><p>Though, she had to admit, it was a lot less sexy being on the receiving end of Taylor's cold shoulder when there was no flirtatious remarks to be had afterward.</p><p>Karlie began to walk away, only for a small fake cough to cut through the silence. She didn't even have to turn around to know who was behind her.</p><p>"Taylor," Karlie began, stepping forward. "I was worried you weren't coming."</p><p>"For a moment, I almost didn't," was the cheerleader's reply. </p><p>It was almost as if it was months ago, back when there were no feelings nor partners present to complicate what should have been an uncomplicated situation. Karlie sitting under the bleachers or behind the Science block waiting for Taylor's cheer practice to end, the other girl bounding over, a crimson smirk on her face as she and Karlie exchanged insults and obscenities that quickly evolved into heated kisses and hands roaming under soon-to-be-discarded clothes.</p><p>Almost. </p><p>But there was an inexplicable tension between them, a sudden change in their dynamic that wouldn't go away, no matter how much Karlie wished it would. </p><p>"Are you going to actually tell me why you summoned me here or can I go back to being a heartless abomination now?" Taylor spat. </p><p>"I'm sorry. I was wrong about, well... everything. I was wrong about you being responsible for the joke, I was wrong about all that shit I said about you, I was wrong about a lot of stuff, actually. And I'd really like to apologize. So, I'm sorry."</p><p>"And?"</p><p>"And..." Karlie trailed off. "I'm really, really sorry?"</p><p>"You show up at my house with your new girlfriend you hooked up with less than a day after you asked me out, you stand in my own front lawn, at my own party and you tell me that I'm worthless and cruel and heartless and you accuse me of shit I had nothing to do with and you think a sorry will fix it? You think a sorry will undo all of the crying, and anguish and pain that you made me feel?"</p><p>"I showed up at your party with Martha after you showed up to our date with Joe Alwyn slobbering all over you barely a day after you told me that I wasn't good enough for you," Karlie bristled. </p><p>"I never said that!"</p><p>"But it's what you meant."</p><p>"And I regretted it as soon as you left. I wish I hadn't turned you down."</p><p>"Can't have regretted it that much if you were with Joe Alwyn the next day."</p><p>"You can talk! You seemed pretty cosy with Martha Hunt at The Lighthouse."</p><p>"You're right. That was hypocritical of me. Taylor, I don't want to fight anymore. I asked you to come here because I wanted to apologise for what I said about you."</p><p>When the cheerleader simply rested her hands on her hips, neither interrupting Karlie nor leaving, she took it as consent to proceed with the conversation, ignoring the disarming quietness of Taylor's fury as she spoke. </p><p>"Look, Taylor, I really am sorry about what I said. I was way out of line and I said some horrible things that I can't take back but none of it was true and none of it was from the heart. I've seen you sing to sick kids in hospitals, I've seen how you care for Vanessa, even when she's made your life super complicated, I've seen you be vulnerable with me and let me be vulnerable with you without fear. I know I said I didn't know you but that's not true. I do know you and you're... sweet."</p><p>"Karlie..."</p><p>Wait, I'm not finished. I know how important prom queen is to you and I know how much you want it. You can't have anything disrupting that. And besides, my being clearly meant something to you when I asked you out and it's probably going to mean something again. I don't know if this is something your parents ingrained in you or something but I can't buy you kittens and I'm honestly much more of a quiet night with friends type than a massive party type. I like you, Taylor but you were right to have turned me down. We wouldn't have worked," Karlie said quietly, grabbing her bag and walking off. </p><p>If she had turned back around, she would have seen a grief-stricken Taylor slowly sliding down the wall, her head in her hands as she began to cry. She could feel regret sliding into her mind almost immediately. </p><p>She liked Taylor.</p><p>God, she really liked Taylor. </p><p>And Taylor liked her back. </p><p>Why the universe had brought these polar opposites together, Karlie didn't know. It seemed cruel, to give them such chemistry and make them incompatible- but perhaps that's why they had such chemistry in the first place. </p><p>Opposites attract, right?</p><p>Well, that may have been true for some couples, but Taylor and Karlie had no such luck. They were always going to be two passing ships in the night, just as they had always been.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>Karlie slammed her locker shut, resulting in a small whine from nearby students and one of them dropping a couple of their school books. "Sorry," she mumbled, squatting down to pick them up. </p><p>Today was shit. </p><p>Complete, utter shit.</p><p>Yesterday had sucked as well, from Martha purposely dodging her in the hallways to her blow-up with Taylor behind the school. Cara, as Karlie's best friend, had picked up on the tension emanating from Karlie and although, for Karlie's sake, she had not yet brought it up, Karlie knew it was only a matter of time until Cara asked her why she was so upset. </p><p>But today, Karlie's sleeplessness had caught up with her and had slowed her down. She had Comp Sci with Cara next and she figured that Cara would be asking her what had gotten her down and why she and Martha were acting so weird. And if Cara didn't, Ashley would. She balanced Cara out, where Cara was carefree and the life of the party, Ashley was level-headed and perceptive and where Cara pushed for pot and partying to make a friend feel better, Ashley preferred a hot cup of tea and a moving conversation. </p><p>Yet somehow, they still fit together, like missing puzzle pieces. </p><p>They had figured it out. </p><p>They were the true "opposites attract" couple. </p><p>But why couldn't Karlie have that?</p><p>"Karlie?" Martha called out. </p><p>"Martha," Karlie replied, a small smile stretching across her face. "Hi!"</p><p>"Hi, Karlie. My bakesale for prom queen is tomorrow. And you said that you had a great vegan recipe and I could use the help."</p><p>"Absolutely. I'll be there all throughout lunch to help you. Anything you need."</p><p>"Thanks, Karlie. I'll see you in front of the canteen at lunchtime tomorrow."</p><p>"Yeah," Karlie ratified. "You will."</p><p>Tuesday was... markedly better, all things considered. </p><p>Armed with Stella's best Tupperware container, Karlie marched into school the next day with seventy vegan lemon slices in her arms. Martha greeted her with a friendly wave and a smile, telling her that she needed a little more time and space, but she really appreciated Karlie being there for her and the effort Karlie went to in order to help her. Cara was one of the first in queue and gave Karlie a quizzical expression, knowing that something was off with Karlie and Martha but surprised to see them together and working so well. </p><p>Taylor stayed as far away as possible from the bakesale, though Joe slipped in at the end once the line had dwindled and Taylor was in the bathroom. He offered Martha his well wishes and complimented Karlie on her "proper awesome" lemon slice. </p><p>Karlie wished that he was as cold to her as Taylor was, then she would at least feel less bad about being so jealous of him. She didn't want to hate his guts but she did want to make out with his girlfriend, so envy naturally came with the territory, even if Karlie was being completely irrational and Joe was actually really friendly and nice. </p><p>"Does he know?" Martha asked as they began to pack up. </p><p>"I wouldn't think so," Karlie replied. "I wouldn't know anyway, Taylor and I haven't... hooked up since-"</p><p>"Just before you went out with me."</p><p>"Yeah," Karlie mumbled, her face flushed as she squirmed under Martha's awkward gaze. "Look, Martha, again, I'm-"</p><p>"You're really sorry. I'm honestly at the phase where I hate that word more than anything. I know you're sorry but if I hear you say it one more time, I will slash your tyres."</p><p>"Noted." </p><p>The pair made small talk as they continued to pack up, Karlie asked about Bear and Martha asked about Stella as they wiped their containers clean. It was nice, natural and even if it was somewhat awkward and restrained, Karlie welcomed the polite conversation and the kind-of smiling Martha. </p><p>It was an improvement from the sombre talk and stony-faced Martha she had met over the weekend. </p><p>Though, that being said, that was her fault. </p><p>The rest of the day was also smooth. Seeing Martha feeling better made Karlie feel better and Karlie's improved mood meant that Cara spent more of the lesson talking to Karlie about this beautiful vintage Lincoln she had serviced first-hand at her job on Sunday and less time staring at Karlie's face and trying to decipher why she was in such a foul mood. </p><p>Stella had come home from the senior's centre with a hefty piece of vegetarian lasagna for Karlie ("Marnie says that it's a secret family recipe but we all know that it's copied from Julia Child. Still, it's a great recipe, try it out!") which she devoured in record time. Joe, the next door neighbour's dog snuck into their backyard and engaged in a short game of fetch with Karlie, which she loved. </p><p>That night, Karlie was treated to a somewhat less restless night of sleep, her only solace being snippets of dreams where she and Taylor had a healthy, communicative relationship. </p><p>But in reality, their time had passed. </p><p>Or so she thought.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. I Can Be Your Hero, Baby</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Expect the unexpected...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, how come I never see you and Martha going at it in the hallways anymore?"</p><p>Karlie lifted up her head from her homework to look at the inquisitive smile on Cara's face as she tried to think of a response. "Um..."</p><p>"What is it, Karlie? Do you need pointers? I don't mean to brag but Ashley says that my mouth is a-"</p><p>"Okay, Cara, I'm good, thanks. Martha and I just decided that we were better off as friends."</p><p>"Really? That came out of nowhere! Is there someone else?"</p><p>Karlie turned her head away from Cara's questioning gaze, her eyes settling on Taylor's prom queen poster. God, she was probably more familiar with that uniform than anyone else in the school, other than Taylor. She knew how poorly it failed to cover a myriad of sins and how annoyed it made Taylor afterwards, even if she was chanting Karlie's name at the time and she knew that Taylor took great pleasure in dragging Karlie's hand up her thigh in a torturously slow manner whenever she was wearing it.</p><p>"No," she responded forcefully. "There's nobody else in my life."</p><p>"What about the girl you're tutoring?"</p><p>"Oh, that stopped a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to pick up more shifts at Jake's and so she found another tutor."</p><p>"Was she okay with it?" Cara asked.</p><p>"Yeah. She loves her new tutor."</p><p>"Well, that's good. All's well that ends well, and all."</p><p>Karlie gave a half-shrug and returned to her work, which had devolved into more sketches, leaving Cara to her musings. Her drawings depicted an attractive girl, with a hell-raising smirk on her face but a gentle softness to her eyes and Karlie did not want to think about who had inspired this piece. She slammed her book shut, earning herself a queer look and a raise of a perfectly sculpted eyebrow from Cara, but she dismissed the unspoken query and discreetly switched her phone on instead.</p><p>She knew that Cara had her suspicions and thoughts regarding Karlie's recent secrecy and shift in mood. It wasn't like her to be so reticent, least of all with her best friend, and she knew that Cara was going to catch on soon enough and start asking her hard questions. Questions that she wouldn't have an answer to.</p><p>"Anyway, what time is the voting period again?" Karlie asked, trying to mask her discomfort.</p><p>"Fourth period everybody goes down to vote."</p><p>"Shit, that's ten minutes away. We better get down now if we want to help Martha out."</p><p>Karlie was in agreement with her friend, and looking for a distraction, so the pair packed up and made their way down to the gymnasium. Karlie was still feeling skittish and nervous about Cara's recent line of questioning and she suspected that it would not be the last that she heard from her about the matter. Cara wasn't necessarily a pushy person (not most of the time, at least) but she was rarely satisfied with one answer and often looked for more.</p><p>Voting day was chaos. If William Bowen Campbell had been inundated with a swarm of prom queen posters before, this was nothing compared to the flurry of advertisements that seemingly went up overnight. The juniors found themselves lining up in the gymnasium, ready to cast their votes for prom queen and king, with high-quality pictures of a smirking Taylor, with posters of Martha and two other low-level prom queen candidates too. Prom king posters were up too, boasting pictures of Joe Arias, Adam Muc, and other prom king hopefuls but none were given twice the amount of attention that the prom queen was.</p><p>Taylor, Selena, Abigail, and the other cheerleaders stood in the centre of the gymnasium, an outbreak of yellow, white and blue drawing everyone's eyes as they preened and fixed their skirts. Taylor, of course, as head cheerleader and prom queen nominee, was the star of the show, her signature red lip and blonde ponytail in place as she warmed up with the rest of the group.</p><p>"Martha's just over there, let's go," Cara said, tugging Karlie gently.</p><p>If Karlie was being completely honest, it took a decent amount, if not all of her willpower to keep her eyes from wandering over to Taylor's well-above-the-knee skirt and the long, alabaster legs it barely covered. She tried her hardest to suppress the blush she could feel coloring her cheeks and she averted her gaze before it became too prominent that she was gawking at Taylor and her stupidly attractive legs. Cara probably wouldn't notice the reason why her jaw was slack and her eyes wide but Martha definitely would and Karlie wouldn't want to hurt Martha any more than she already had by blatantly ogling Taylor right in front of her.</p><p>God, she missed those legs.</p><p>And the uniform.</p><p>Especially the uniform.</p><p>But then just as the cheerleaders were doing their final stretches, Joe strolled over to Taylor and pulled her in for a kiss. That made it much easier for Karlie to stop looking, only for her to hear Taylor loudly chide Joe for ruining her lip gloss right before her performance.</p><p>"Two, four, six, eight!</p><p>Vote for Taylor, get a date!</p><p>Eight, six, four, two!</p><p>A vote for Taylor is a vote for you!"</p><p>"I mean, you have to admit, it's a catchy chant," Cara conceded, pulling Karlie out of her thoughts. "Don't worry, Martha, we're still voting for you and I'm sure plenty of other people are too."</p><p>"Yeah, I definitely will be. Don't tell Andrea, but I dated one of the girls on the cheerleading team and she was a nightmare," Lena added.</p><p>"Oh, my God, who?" Martha asked.</p><p>"Veronica. God, she was such a brat and I'm pretty sure she was only with me for the money anyway."</p><p>"Martha!" a new voice called out, bustling over. "Martha!"</p><p>"Oh, God, not Perez..." Cara groaned. "God, I hate him. And his stupid blog."</p><p>"I'm so glad Andrea kicked him off the journalism team, he's nothing but a gossip with a life so boring he has to make up shit about other people for entertainment. I feel like he gets off on hurting people's feelings," Lena said to an earnest chuckle from Cara in response.</p><p>"Martha, sweetie!" Perez announced, dragging her away from her friends and closer to him. "I can't believe I haven't interviewed you yet. Martha, based off the recent poll on my blog and random interviews I've been doing just now, Taylor Swift is set to steal the title of prom queen with a staggering seventy-five percent of the vote. How does this crushing defeat make you feel?"</p><p>"Fuck off, Perez," Jourdan hissed, to the surprise of several around her.</p><p>"Relax, it's just a question, honey," he retorted. "You look at the numbers if you think I'm lying."</p><p>"We don't want to see them," Karlie said. "Fuck off."</p><p>"Fine. Sorry for trying to spare you the humiliation," Perez huffed before turning on his heel and walking off.</p><p>The other girls all muttered profanities about Perez and his meddlesome ways, all save for Martha, who had gone pale and clammy. She stood frozen in the corner of the room, not even noticing the plate of mini quiches sliding out of her hands and onto the floor.</p><p>"Martha!" Karlie called out, rushing over to her just before the plate hit the floor.</p><p>"I... have to go, Karlie," she replied, hurrying out of the room.</p><p>Martha was upset and Perez was the likely cause. But whether it was Karlie's place, after things were still so icy and awkward between the two. Still, the other girls were discussing how much they loathed Perez, with no attention given to poor Martha, who was seemingly on the precipice of tears. So, Karlie left the mini quiches on a nearby Taylor and jogged out of the room, looking for Martha.</p><p>She didn't have to look far, for the hallway was mostly deserted, save for a few other students roaming around. She figured that Martha had probably made her way over to the toilets, and she was correct. Opening the door, she heard quiet sniffling coming from the first stall and she tentatively knocked on the door.</p><p>"Hey, Martha," she began. "Karlie, here. Do you want to talk?"</p><p>She didn't get a response, so she knocked gently on the door again, her face pressed to the small gap as she spoke. "Do you want to go for a walk? We can go somewhere private and chat if you like but this is an important day for you, and I don't think you should spend it locked in the bathroom."</p><p>It was another minute before Martha unlocked the door and stepped out. Karlie stood in front of her, a wad of paper towel in her hands, and passed it to a grievous Martha with a weak smile.</p><p>"We can just chill out behind the school if you like. I know a shortcut if you don't want people seeing you."</p><p>"Sure," Martha replied. "Lead the way."</p><p>Karlie opened the door for Martha and led her out of the school and to the deserted bleachers, where they both sat down. But when Martha curled up and didn't say a word, Karlie began to feel like her presence was unwanted.</p><p>"I can go get Jourdan," she offered. "Or I can just leave if you want to be alone."</p><p>"It's fine," Martha mumbled.</p><p>"Did you want to talk about it?" Karlie asked.</p><p>"There's not much to talk about," Martha said. "Taylor is going to win and I'm an unlikeable dork. Fun."</p><p>"You know, when I started this, I never expected to win, the thought didn't cross my mind for a second. I knew that Taylor was the favourite, the queen bee and I didn't think I'd stand a chance against her. But I didn't think that I'd be turned into a laughingstock. I didn't think that the whole grade would hate me for it."</p><p>"I don't think they hate you, Martha, Perez is just-"</p><p>"They seemed to delight in my suffering enough at Taylor's party," Martha sniffed.</p><p>"And that must have sucked but if it helps, everyone at that party was drunk, they would have laughed at anything. I don't think they would have laughed as much if they were sober."</p><p>"Perhaps," Martha sighed. "God, I feel like an idiot. I knew it was stupid to go against Taylor. How is she, by the way?"</p><p>"I wouldn't know."</p><p>"I figured that you would probably make your move, seeing as you're single now," Martha commented, her tone conversational with the slightest edge and ice undercutting any friendly tones.</p><p>"Then I figure that you didn't see Joe Alwyn kiss her before their performance began."</p><p>"Oh, they're still dating?"</p><p>"Yeah, but that's kind of my fault. Taylor and I- you know, never mind, this must be really uncomfortable for you, I'm sorry."</p><p>"No, it's fine," Martha said. "Don't look at me like that, I mean it. I'm sorry if my earlier tone implied otherwise but I want us to be friends too and friends talk about this stuff. Besides, it makes for a good distraction from that Perez stuff. Anyway, continue."</p><p>"Okay, but if this hurts, tell me and I'll stop. Anyway, I asked Taylor to meet up with me behind the school and she did and I apologised for what I said."</p><p>"And?"</p><p>"And then I told her that we wouldn't be able to make it work," Karlie admitted.</p><p>"Why not?" Martha asked.</p><p>"Because I screwed up so much with her. I said some horrible, horrible things to her, I was terrible and I upset her so much-"</p><p>"Hold on," Martha interrupted. "She's not innocent in this either. She turned you down for some stupid reason and then acted all possessive when you showed interest in someone else. That's not okay. Did she ever apologise for that?"</p><p>"She tried but I pushed her away."</p><p>"How hard was she trying?"</p><p>"Look, Martha, Taylor can be a... pill sometimes but there's a soft, genuine side to her. I don't know how I ended up discovering it but- I don't know, we started off hating each other and then arguing turned into teasing and somewhere along the line, I started to like her and she started to like me back. And neither of us acted on it because we were idiots and now, we've hurt each other."</p><p>"And you don't think you can work through it? I mean, you both jumped through so many hoops to get here, it seems like a waste to give up at the end, especially when you clearly like each other."</p><p>"Maybe. I don't know, there's just so much there, so much hurt that part of me feels like we'd both be happier if we never hooked up to begin with, but I know that's not true. God, I wish we didn't like each other. It would be so much easier if we still hated each other but stupid fucking feelings had to fuck everything up."</p><p>"I see."</p><p>"Thanks for letting me vent, but you should probably get back to the gymnasium unless you want to stay out here."</p><p>"No, you're right, I should get back inside. It won't help my poll ratings if I'm outside sulking and Taylor's the centre of attention in there. Let's go."</p><p>The second Karlie and Martha made it back to the gymnasium, Cara gave her a quirked expression with a raised eyebrow as they walked in, with Ashley sharply whispering in her ear before she could say something embarrassing. Lena didn't notice, as she was more so preoccupied with helping Andrea eat as many of Martha's pastries as she could, whilst Jourdan walked over to the pair and grabbed Martha's hand.</p><p>"Hey, girl! Where did you go, we were looking for you. You're on the campaign trail now, you can't be running off like that," she said with a smile. "Is this about Perez, because he's a jerk, we all know that. He just thrives off drama."</p><p>"It's fine, Karlie and I talked about it and I felt better. Where did I leave my hedgehog slice, I want to share those around now before voting period ends."</p><p>"Okay, girl," she said with an eyebrow quirk akin to Cara's. "I'll leave you to it then."</p><p>"Hey," Martha said before Karlie could rejoin Cara. "Back there, under the bleachers, thanks for being such a good friend. It's hard, and I'm going to need a bit more time, but you're a good friend and I would like to be friends with you."</p><p>Martha was so earnest, so sweet, and open-minded that Karlie couldn't help but feel happy and at ease, even if she had been momentarily distracted by the wistful look on Taylor's face as she wrapped her arms around Joe. It was nice to have a friend, especially one so dependable and kind, Karlie only hoped that she would be able to pay it back, particularly after what had transpired between them.</p><p>*</p><p>Voting day had come and gone, signifying that the most important social event of the year (other than Taylor's Halloween parties) was drawing ever closer. The juniors had been gripped by what was colloquially known to others as 'prom fever' and it was contagious. Any talks between students, be them about the weather or the primaries shifted to discussions about prom within a minute's conversation, not that anyone particularly cared, except for the teachers, naturally.</p><p>It was the fourth time that week that Cara had (somewhat subtly, to her credit) brought up Karlie's date to prom. She knew that her best friend didn't mean any harm by it and that she just wanted Karlie to have the best night possible, but it was becoming increasingly hard for her to brush off her friend's comments as though they were nothing, especially when each insinuation of Cara's ultimately led her mind to a field of images where Taylor was pressed against her, swaying to the music and whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Once, she had even hinted at a potential reconciliation between her and Martha, but Karlie shot that down hard enough that Cara knew it wasn't in the cards, but not too gruffly that she upset her friend.</p><p>"Are you sure?" Cara had asked, gleaming eyes betraying all neutrality. "I know you like to pretend that this prom life isn't for you but Ashley told me that she saw you checking out a board on Pinterest with a ton of pretty dresses on it."</p><p>"I'm perfectly sure," Karlie had replied. "Not a doubt in my mind."</p><p>"That's a shame, Martha was fun. And I was kind of banking on her knowing how to make pot brownies. Also, peppermint slice. God, I will miss her slices."</p><p>"You can still be friends with her, babe. I don't mind."</p><p>"You know you won't get into prom if they know you're high, right? Apparently, we're going to some mega-exclusive country club and sometimes they check you at the door."</p><p>"What a bunch of squares!" Cara had humorously grumbled in response. </p><p>Her latest encounter had Cara animatedly describing the 'joys of prom night' to Karlie by using a vivid example of what Ashley had told her girlfriend what there was a chance of them doing if prom went perfectly. Karlie might have just been able to stomach the conversation if it had not been directly followed Cara asking an uneasy Karlie if she had anyone in her life she could celebrate prom night with, only for a pair of icy blue eyes and soft lips and deft, wandering, manicured fingers to dance in her brain, preventing her from giving a proper response. Rather than follow through with her initial plan, which was to drive home as fast as possible and take a cold, cold shower and tell Cara it was an emergency, Karlie was saved by Lena, who asked Karlie if she could stay behind after school and help her with a technological emergency. Karlie had explained the situation to Cara, trying her hardest to sound genuinely sorry that she couldn't spend seventeen minutes driving Cara home and having her ask Karlie about her prom date again.</p><p>And, of course, she was genuinely sorry that she couldn't spend time with her best friend.</p><p>To an extent.</p><p>And she had fun working with Lena. She was witty and had an impressive understanding of even the most complex technological advancements and Karlie felt like she learned something whilst simultaneously contributing too. Karlie left at four o'clock, with Lena saying that she had some additional personal projects to work on and thanked Karlie for her help.</p><p>The taller girl bade Lena farewell and set off to her pick-up truck, counting down the minutes until she was home and helping herself to a slice of vegan lasagna as an after-school snack, only for her to be faced with the unexpected.</p><p>Taylor was there, bent over her car, rapidly cursing and all of a sudden, the need for a cold shower came flooding back in full force. Upon closer inspection, Karlie recognized the source of Taylor's trouble; her car engine wouldn't start.</p><p>"Need a ride?" Karlie asked gently.</p><p>Taylor turned around surprised as she faced the other girl. "Karlie," she squeaked before regaining her composure. "No, thank you, I'm okay."</p><p>"Are you sure? They're probably going to tow your car and take it to the mechanic; how will you get home?"</p><p>"I'll... I'll... find a way."</p><p>"Taylor, please just let me take you home. Even if you call one of your friends, you'll still have to wait out in the cool breeze, and you know I have a heater that works a little too well. Please let me do this for you," Karlie offered.</p><p>"Do you still remember my address?" Taylor asked softly.</p><p>"Yeah. Yeah, I do. I work at Jake's Auto Chop Shop, I can call them up and have them take your car, and then you can pick it up when they're done with it."</p><p>"Thank you. I'd really appreciate that, Karlie," Taylor said, and the other girl temporarily stopped in her tracks as she heard the words.</p><p>Did she hear those words?</p><p>Was this the same Taylor?</p><p>"What happened to your car?" Karlie asked as they walked over to her pick-up truck.</p><p>"Fucking Adam Wiles and his dumbass friends thought it would be fun to clog up my engine for whatever stupid reason. God, I don't know what I ever saw in him."</p><p>"You two were a thing?" Karlie asked, trying her hardest to stay casual, even with the slightest spark of jealousy flaring in her chest.</p><p>"For a bit in junior high. It did not work out."</p><p>Good.</p><p>"Uh-huh," Karlie replied, unlocking the car.</p><p>Taylor sat in Karlie's car once more, her lips affixed into a devastatingly attractive pout as she reapplied her lip gloss. For a moment, Karlie almost reached over to pull her in for a kiss, just as she had done countless times before, and for a second, Taylor turned to Karlie as if she were expecting one.</p><p>Karlie's mouth widened just the slightest bit as Taylor ran a hand through her hair in a fashion similar to the way Karlie used to, only for her to take a deep, calm breath and continue to flutter her eyelashes as if she was waiting for something.</p><p>"Karlie," Taylor hummed, curling a strand of hair around her finger.</p><p>"Yeah?" Karlie asked, leaning in closer to Taylor.</p><p>"Aren't you going to start the car?"</p><p>"...Yes."</p><p>The drive was quiet after that, though Karlie couldn't determine whether the lack of conversation was comfortable or not. After a brief conversation with work, Joseph Arthur's "You're So True" hummed in the background, preventing total silence as Karlie drove and Taylor played on her phone. There were a select few times in which Karlie believed she caught Taylor staring at her, her lashes fluttering even more as she did so and her lips perfectly pouted as one hand glided up and down her thigh and the other held her phone firmly in place, but she dismissed such theories.</p><p>That wasn't to say that Karlie didn't notice the faint blush on Taylor's cheeks become more prominent every time Karlie met her gaze and watched her eyes slowly drop back to her phone.</p><p>Whether regretfully or not, Karlie soon arrived at Taylor's house, meaning that their time alone together had come to an end (and neither of them knew when the next time would be.) Taylor was slow in unbuckling her belt, almost as if she didn't want to leave, and Karlie kind of didn't want her to either, least of all when she was looking at Karlie like she knew exactly where Karlie's mind had wandered to during the ride.</p><p>"Here," Taylor said, procuring a fifty dollar bill. "Thanks for the ride."</p><p>"You don't have to pay. Anything for- it was a favor," Karlie stammered.</p><p>"Well," Taylor said, leaning in closer to Karlie until her breath was tickling Karlie's ear. "I like to repay all of my debts."</p><p>Karlie didn't know when she brought her face closer to Taylor's (or was Taylor bringing her face closer to Karlie's?) but suddenly Karlie a pair of soft blue eyes and red lips were inching closer to her face with every second.</p><p>"Taylor," Karlie murmured, her hands finding their way to the cheerleader's sides. "I've been thinking about what I said and I realized that-"</p><p>In a moment that reminded Karlie all too well of her and Taylor's failed sexual encounter, Karlie was interrupted by Taylor's phone ringing, and from the guilty glance and shift Taylor performed when she looked down at her lap, Karlie already had a very clear idea of who was calling.</p><p>"Karlie," Taylor said softly, looking back up at the other girl. "What were you going to say?"</p><p>"Nothing," Karlie replied, retracting her hands, and placing them firmly on the steering wheel. She looked away from Taylor as she spoke, keeping her face as far away as possible from those piercing cornflower eyes and teasing red lips. "You should take that."</p><p>"It's nothing important, I'm sure," Taylor said, putting her phone back into her purse. "What were you going to say?"</p><p>"Doesn't matter. You really should talk to your boyfriend."</p><p>"But that doesn't mean you can't talk to me. Especially if you know of a reason as to why I shouldn't have a boyfriend."</p><p>Karlie didn't say a word. This was a trap, a dangerous one. Taylor had led Karlie to believe that she no longer thought that their differences didn't matter, but even if Karlie had fallen head-over-heels, which she had not because they had one conversation, her eyes were open to Taylor's flaws and insecurities- one of her biggest being her need to be popular and well-liked.</p><p>Even if it didn't matter now, it would again, and Karlie couldn't stomach the inevitable anguish that would come with it.</p><p>"Karlie," Taylor said gently after a period of prolonged silence, placing one of her hands atop Karlie's own. "I really am sorry, baby."</p><p>"So am I," Karlie replied.</p><p>"I really do like you too, Karlie. And I could be wrong, we know I'm not, but I think you might like me too, baby," Taylor purred, running a finger across Karlie's hand and arm soothingly.</p><p>"I asked you out, didn't I?"</p><p>"Yeah, you did. Are you sure you don't want to say anything to me?" Taylor said, all previous smugness gone without a trace as hope and nervousness took over.</p><p>Karlie thought it over once.</p><p>Twice.</p><p>And then she opened her mouth to speak, only for Taylor's phone to start ringing again, and for Taylor's face to pale as it did so, knowing who it was.</p><p>"That's your boyfriend, Taylor," Karlie said, her grip on the steering wheel tightening.</p><p>"He can wait. What was it you were going to say earlier when I was about to-"</p><p>"Cheat on your boyfriend? Look, Taylor, Joe is popular, he's attractive and you two will make a perfect prom queen and king. He's rich and he can give you whatever you want and he'll be perfect for you. Go to him."</p><p>"What if I'm looking for more than that? What if I want someone I have chemistry with? Someone who makes me feel electric when we kiss? Someone who makes me laugh?"</p><p>"That won't get you prom queen."</p><p>"You said that you saw the real me, Karlie. I would hope that would mean that you didn't think I was that superficial."</p><p>"And I meant it when I said that. You are sweet and soft and yeah, I like you. A lot. I said some terrible stuff to you, stuff I really wish I could take back because it was cruel and nasty and said in the heat of the moment and didn't account for all of your genuinely admirable qualities. But, I'm not good enough for you to be seen in public with and that hurt. It still hurts because I know that you and I would have a great relationship together and I could service your car for you whenever your douchebag ex fucked up the engine and you could thank me in it later but I could also be there for you when you feel neglected by your parents and you could be there for me whenever I'm crying over mine and I could draw pictures of you and your cats for you and you could write songs for me and we'd be amazing together," Karlie said quietly.</p><p>"God, Karlie, baby, you've really thought about this, haven't you? That sounds... perfect," Taylor sighed.</p><p>"Yeah, it does. Not to be rude, but my grandmother's car is also in the shop right now and I have to pick her up from bingo, and you have to call your boyfriend and plan a coordinated couple's outfit for prom."</p><p>"God, I really fucked up," Taylor mumbled, with Karlie only just hearing what she said.</p><p>"So did I, Taylor," Karlie said, even quieter.</p><p>The other girl leaned over again, her fingers opening Karlie's pockets as she slid the note in there, only to draw back with a sad smile. "God, Karlie, you really are so attractive," she sighed. "So fit and so gorgeous. Hmm. Anyways, goodbye, baby."</p><p>Taylor stepped out of the car without another word, and Karlie watched as she walked away, the familiar pit of dread in her stomach encompassing her body whole as she did so. Part of her wanted to run out, up the steps to Taylor's house and kiss her like they had never done so before, and the cowardly part of her wanted Taylor to rush back into the car and climb on top of her so that she wouldn't have to do it herself.</p><p>The drive to Taylor's had been quiet, but the drive to the senior centre and then home was silent, even with the radio and Stella's musings filling the void. Her night was muted too, with no sound in the room as Karlie laid back in bed and questioned how she and Taylor had screwed up so much and if they would ever be able to make it better.</p><p>If only she knew that later that night, Taylor would throw her custom-made, designer prom dress out and that it would be one of the smartest decisions she ever made.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Prom Queen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>All's well that ends well... and all...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Karlie had only ever been to a country club twice in her life. Her wealthy aunt Claudia was a member of the Bellerive Country Club and she had invited Karlie to join her as a guest when she spent a week of her summer vacation in St. Louis with her. She wasn't particularly fond of golf, but she greatly revered the strawberry milkshakes at the restaurant. It was one of the best weeks of her life and Aunt Claudia promised she could visit again the following summer and have even more delicious milkshakes.</p><p>Only for Karlie's father to drive himself and Karlie's mother off the road and into a tree, and ultimately, into jail.</p><p>Karlie hasn't seen Aunt Claudia since she was giving her victim impact statement, explaining how Kurt had ruined her life and killed her sister.</p><p>But the Old Highland Country Club put Bellerive to shame. A baronial edifice standing amongst a verdant golf course, backing onto a lake, it stood proudly, as if it knew of its beauty and class, with the faintest outline of the Highland Rim in the distance. Limousines, novelty London taxis, party buses, vintage, and regular cars lined the entrance to the country club, with merry and reveling students ambling up the steps and socializing with one another as they waited for their friends.</p><p>"Thank you, Charles," Karlie said as he pulled to a stop.</p><p>"Yeah, thanks, Dad," Cara added. "Love you."</p><p>"Have fun, ladies. But not too much fun, you two," he teased, with a faux-stern grin thrown at a blushing Cara and Ashley.</p><p>"Well, prom is ruined now," Cara joked. "Love you, Dad, see you at four AM."</p><p>"Have a good night, girls."</p><p>Karlie, Ashley, and Cara stepped out of the car as gracefully as they could, with Cara and Ashley trying to prevent themselves and each other from stepping on their gowns. Karlie, who had instead donned a suit for the occasion, departed first and helped both girls down.</p><p>Karlie was seldom one to blow her own vertubenflugen, but even she could admit that she looked nothing short of stunning tonight. Initially, she had planned on wearing a pale blue number she had worn to a wedding last summer, but Blanche had insisted that Karlie wear something special for her prom, even if it was only junior prom and Karlie had her senior prom next year too. She hadn't even thought about a suit until she and Stella were shopping, and it caught her eye. She had tried to downplay her excitement, fearing that it would cost too much and Stella would feel bad about the price, but she was in luck, for the black suit with a floral print was marked down for a reasonable cost and was in a shopping bag by noon.</p><p>And now, Karlie was wearing it and looking back, she couldn't have imagined herself in anything else. Cara and Ashley looked gorgeous too, with the former in a floor-length black gown and the latter in a striking royal blue floral number. She had not yet seen Martha, but she was hoping to catch a glimpse of her soon, seeing as Martha was truly very excited about her gown.</p><p>The camaraderie was broken up by the distinct sound of hooves traipsing across the road. Students stopped talking and looked forward to the country club's opened gates, only to see a horse-drawn carriage stand out against the horde of vehicles. Of course, nobody was surprised when the carriage drew to a halt and the door opened to reveal Taylor Swift dressed to outdo a Disney Princess in a pink and yellow gown with puffed sleeves. Joe, naturally, was in a black-and-white tuxedo, like many of the other boys there as he dutifully helped Taylor out of the carriage, to raucous applause.</p><p>She had a wide beam on her face as she stepped out and waved as if she was the Queen of England. As Cara rolled her eyes and Ashley seemed generally uninterested, Karlie had to bite back a sad smile at seeing just how gorgeous Taylor looked. Strands of golden hair cascaded down the sides from a delicate headband as crinkled blue eyes gazed at an adoring crowd and Karlie pinched her wrist to stop herself from wishing that she was the one holding Taylor's arm right now.</p><p>"What the fuck are people clapping for?" Cara groaned. "Who does that?"</p><p>"Come on, you two, let's go inside," Ashley said. "Martha will probably be in there and so will the others."</p><p>The trio made their way inside, the interior of the country club doing more than its part to uphold an air of elegance and superiority as they walked through the hallway, the baroque oil paintings and antique furniture almost convincing Karlie that she had walked out of the 21st century and directly into the Victorian era. It was unsettling, frightening almost, the rigidity of the room. There was no sense of familial belonging in the burgundy sofas that were clustered by the fire, nor any in the opulent vases and or burnished golfing trophies lining every mantle and shelf.</p><p>The space the school had rented out, however, was a welcome breath of fresh air as its modernity came in the form of crisp whites with a royal blue accent, the decorations put up by the school to represent its official colors. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Andrea had already made her way over to the appetizers, where she had already begun conducting a raid on the potstickers, with an adoring Lena handing her napkins as she went.</p><p>"I can't see Joshua or Elaine," Karlie said. "Can you see- we've been here five minutes, get off each other."</p><p>A blushing Ashley pulled away from Cara as Karlie chided them. Cara simply stuck her tongue out at Karlie as Ashley gave a shy smile and looked down. "Hey, I offered to find you a special someone to spend the night with, Miss Grumpy Pants and you turned me down. Unless you're planning on getting back together with-"</p><p>"I am not getting back together with- Martha, hi!" Karlie greeted as the striking blonde walked over to the trio.</p><p>To say Martha looked pretty would be a criminal understatement. Martha was wearing a stunning dress, sheer and pale blue, a dress that would most certainly get her in trouble with Mister Archer later, but admittedly looked nothing short of incredible on her, especially when paired with her bold red lipstick.</p><p>"Martha, wow," Karlie said, her eyes still taking in the sight. "You look... wow."</p><p>Although she couldn't see much of Cara's face, she knew there was a smirk on her face, a smirk that said 'I'm right' and she shot a quick glare in Cara's direction before her best friend could say something completely embarrassing. Ashley sensed a comment on the tip of Cara's tongue too and gave her girlfriend a quick nudge to shut her up before she shot herself and Karlie in the foot.</p><p>"Thanks, Karlie," Martha replied. "You look incredible too."</p><p>"Alright, alright, keep it in your pa-" Cara began, only for Ashley to intervene through a subtle yet effective stamp on the foot.</p><p>Beyond Martha, Karlie noticed Taylor's eyes on her, something soft and sorrowful as she stared. Her smile was wide and bright and captivating as she chatted with her friends and twirled in her dress, but her eyes, crinkled and pale blue, conveyed indistinguishable anguish that didn't belong on her face, not on her night of nights. Karlie would be lying if she said a part of her, a part larger than she'd like to admit, wasn't drawn to Taylor, didn't want to reach out and comfort her like she did back at her house, didn't want to save and protect her like she did with her sweater or when she gave her a lift.</p><p>"Karlie, Karlie, Earth to Karlie..." Cara said, gently jolting her friend. "Gee, she's out of it. I wonder why..."</p><p>"Not. A. Word," Ashley hissed to Cara, already sensing an inappropriate musing on the tip of her girlfriend's tongue.</p><p>"What? I was merely going to suggest that Karlie wasn't paying attention because- ouch, babe! I like it rough, but can you do it with your teeth next time? Your elbow isn't kinky, it's just painful."</p><p>"Thank you, Ashley," Karlie murmured quietly, Cara's exclamation having brought her out of her thoughts. "What was it you needed my attention for, Care-Bear?"</p><p>"Ew, you haven't called me that since we played Care Bears in elementary school. What gives?"</p><p>"You were being an asshole and I was retaliating," Karlie said with a smirk.</p><p>"Anyway," a faux-grumpy Cara sighed. "I was just going to say that Joshua and Elaine are over there and that I'm kind of hungry and need to get to the snacks table before Andrea's rampage takes out all of the good food. Hey, Luthor! Could you take your dress off, so your girlfriend eats you and not all of the potstickers?"</p><p>"Fuck off, Delevingne," came the reply.</p><p>Karlie snorted and the others chuckled at the exchange, except for both Cara and Dalila, with the former scowling with mock-anger and the latter still preoccupied with the potstickers that Missus Waldemine was one second from dragging her away from.</p><p>"Well, the night is young, and we've only just begun," Cara announced, clapping her hands together. Let's party, people!"</p><p>The group cheered and made their way over to Elaine and Joshua, both of whom were looking resplendent. Karlie had a smile on her face, a genuine smile on her face, as she caught up with her friends, though her mind still dragged her back to Taylor and the quizzical expression on her face. If she knew anything, Taylor had something in mind.</p><p>She just had no idea what.</p><p>*</p><p>The evening had progressed, with the sky changing from a sweet lilac to an inky black. Karlie mostly loitered around the outskirts of the gathering, laughing, chatting, and nibbling on the appetizers they had been able to salvage from the ravenous football team. Taylor had waltzed around the entire night, preemptively thanking people for their votes, with her rainbow tour being broken up by intervals of dancing with her friends.</p><p>Yet there was a different energy radiating off Taylor tonight, a sense of nervousness and fear mingling with the usual self-assurance and confidence that she exuded. It was queer for someone who was already preparing to accept a title she had not yet won, something she assumed most people would overlook when examining Taylor's current behavior, that she had noticed.</p><p>Or, maybe Karlie just couldn't read her as well as she used to.</p><p>She had noticed Taylor's eyes on her a few times throughout the night, and she, of course, had been struggling to resist not looking at the other girl. Every time she did, it became harder not to talk to her, even as she reminded herself of all of the reasons why; her friends didn't know anything and she didn't want them to find out, Taylor rejected her, even if she did later regret it, and Karlie really shouldn't be pining over her anymore.</p><p>But, God, it was hard to stop pining.</p><p>Aside from such musings, prom had been great so far, save for the 'Couple's Dance', where the majority of students, including Cara and Ashley, Andrea and Lena, and Elaine and Joshua (as friends) had stepped out onto the dancefloor. Martha had given her a queer look for a moment, as if to ask her to dance, only for Jourdan to pull her out to dance instead, leaving Karlie alone. It stung a little, seeing her friends in such solidifying relationships, only for her grief to dissipate into longing when she noticed Taylor on the outskirts of the dance with Joe, though barely dancing with him at all, oddly pulling very little attention to herself.</p><p>But thankfully for Karlie, this portion of the evening didn't last long, and soon enough, the mawkish, cheesy love song that had been blasting from the deejay's speakers was once again a fast-paced pop song that everyone could dance to and the night progressed even faster.</p><p>Karlie was talking to Elaine about her weekend plans when the music cut out and the school principal, Mister Archer, stepped onto the podium and demanded the room's attention. That's when she knew it was time.</p><p>Her mind immediately went to Martha, whose shining face had melted into a puddle of discord and tremulousness. Purely on instinct alone, Karlie wanted to reach out and touch her, just to let her know that she was safe and everything would be okay, but she knew that any attempt to do so would not only be awkward and uncomfortable but would result in a comment from Cara and most of all, hurt Taylor.</p><p>"We'll first begin by announcing the prom jester. Ladies and gentlemen, your prom jester is..."</p><p>Mister Archer's voice faded out into obscurity as the title of prom queen drew closer. Whilst Taylor was the pinnacle of composure, a large grin on her face as she watched Andrea accept the title of 'prom princess' as if she knew that she would soon be joining her onstage, Martha was shaky and clinging to Jourdan as though her life depended on it.</p><p>"Hey," Karlie whispered across to Martha amidst the applause from students. "It'll be okay. No matter what happens, it will be okay."</p><p>"Students of William Bowen Campbell, your prom king is... Adam Wiles!"</p><p>"Oh, God, it's happening," Martha murmured. "God, this was such a fucking mistake."</p><p>"You can't think like that, Martha," Andrea said softly. "Whatever happens, you gave it your best and we're all proud of you."</p><p>"Even if Taylor wins, just know that you'll always be prom queen in our hearts, Martha," Jourdan whispered.</p><p>"Here it is, folks. The big one. The all-important title. With a record-breaking number of votes, your prom queen is... Taylor Swift!"</p><p>Karlie heard a small sniffle from Martha and that was it as the room erupted into cheers. Taylor's face contorted into false shock, her bubblegum pink lips forming a perfect 'o' shape as she glided across the room, her eyes fixated on the plastic tiara that sat atop a plush velvet cushion. Karlie tore her eyes away from a beaming Taylor and back to a courageous Martha, who had blinked back tears and wrangled a sad smile onto her face.</p><p>Even though Taylor had won the title, there was something truly admirable about Martha in this moment, something in the way she held her head high and applauded Taylor like the rest of her peers. Jourdan was rubbing Martha's back, soothing and sweet as she went and the other girls were murmuring their condolences as if Martha had just lost a loved one.</p><p>Karlie looked up to see Taylor giving her prom speech, the golden tiara resting upon her head with its fake opals already threatening to fall out of their place. Everyone else, from douchebag prom king, Adam, to Taylor's best friends, Selena and Abigail, were solely fixated on the prom queen as she thanked everyone and rang in Cougar pride, but Taylor was looking elsewhere.</p><p>Her soft azure eyes did not leave Karlie's ones of verdigris the entire time. It wasn't one of Taylor's regular looks she gave Karlie when she passed her in the hallway, one that said 'I absolutely hate you, meet me on the old basketball court in ten for a quickie' or 'fuck, I hate everything about you but don't stop, that feels so good' or one of her more recent looks that said 'you broke my heart but I think I still have feelings for you, damn it'.</p><p>It was sweet. Unnervingly sweet.</p><p>"A lot of people tonight asked me where my dress was from. It's from Goodwill," Taylor announced. "No, I'm serious, I bought this dress from Goodwill. I saw it in the window and I... loved it immediately. Because it shouldn't matter to me where the dress is from, what matters is I like the dress more than anyone- anything else and I like the way it looks and I like the way it makes me feel and I like myself more when I'm with the dress. As in, when I'm wearing it, of course. And even when the shopkeeper told me that this dress wouldn't work, that it didn't look right on me, I knew better. Because, I like this dress, and even though, occasionally, from the wrong angle, this dress doesn't always look very flattering, but most of the time... I really, really like this dress."</p><p>Taylor's speech was met with a loud smattering of applause from her peers as she curtsied, but her eyes were still fixed on Karlie, the small and sheepish smile on her face expanding with every second the cheers continued until Mister Archer cut through the noise with a tap on the microphone. "Well, that was an unwarranted but certainly very inspiring speech, Miss Swift," Mister Archer concluded. "Now, if there's nothing else, I believe we'll be moving onto the dance between-"</p><p>"Wait," Taylor interrupted. "I mean, forgive me, Mister Archer but there is only one person I'm interested in dancing with tonight, and it's not Adam. I'm still not sure how he won prom king, he's a terrible person. So, if you'll excuse me, I have someone I'd like to dance with right now."</p><p>Taylor moved away from Adam and stepped off the stage, not breaking eye contact with Karlie as she did so. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Joe Alwyn moving towards Taylor as he adjusted his bowtie, only for her to politely sidestep him. She didn't see his reaction though, she was too focused on the ethereal figure gliding towards her, a renowned warmth in her eyes as she came closer.</p><p>"Karlie Kloss," Taylor began slowly as if she was holding her breath. "Will you share this dance with me?"</p><p>The reaction was immediate. From Andrea's embarrassingly loud gasp to Joshua dropping his glass of definitely-spiked punch to Cara's disturbingly stiff posture, Karlie felt the entire room's attention on her as Taylor tentatively held out her hand.</p><p>"No," Karlie replied and Taylor's face fell into a heartbroken crumple.</p><p>"I-"</p><p>"Not until you call that shopkeeper an idiot like she deserves, and you accept this guitar pick she was originally going to give you at the Noodle Junction," Karlie clarified, pulling a guitar pick out of the breast pocket of her shirt.</p><p>"Does this mean you're my idiot now?" Taylor asked softly, accepting the baby blue guitar pick from Karlie.</p><p>"I'd like to be," Karlie replied. "But, we haven't even been on a date yet, and I'd really like to take you on one. I want to go the full nine yards with you, to make up for what I said, hit all of the romantic checkpoints."</p><p>"I'd really like that, Karlie."</p><p>"I'd really like that too, Princess," Karlie said, wrapping an arm around Taylor. "Mister Archer, I think we're ready for the first dance now."</p><p>"This is... unprecedented but, okay. Mister Wiles, is there anyone you would like to dance with?"</p><p>"No chance in hell, that sounds fucking gay," Adam slurred.</p><p>"Mister Wiles, have you been drinking?" Mister Archer asked.</p><p>"How else was I supposed to survive this monkey suit? I only showed up because I thought I'd get laid and Rita's gone home sick! Fuck this, I'm out," Adam said, stumbling off the stage. "I'm going with any other lads from the football team with frigid girlfriends that want to have some real fun tonight."</p><p>"No, Mister Wiles, you're coming with me. Students, enjoy the rest of the night, and... don't do drugs."</p><p>As Mister Archer closely followed Adam out of the country club, Karlie pulled Taylor closer into her, just as the first notes of a country love song began to play, courtesy of the sweetly out-of-touch and old-school DJ. Taylor wrapped her arms around Karlie's waist and affixed her face into the crook of Karlie's neck, resting somewhat on her shoulder.</p><p>
  <i>Betty, I won't make assumptions<i></i></i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>About why you switched your homeroom<i></i></i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>But I think it's 'cause of me<i></i></i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>"Why did it take us so long to do this, Karlie?" Taylor murmured into her neck.</i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>"Cause I was an idiot," Karlie replied. "A big idiot."</i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>"I was an idiot too," Taylor confessed. "And a jerk."</i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>"You're a pretty good kisser though, that makes up for the idiocy."</i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>"So are you. And I- ouch, sorry, Selena."</i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>"You two aren't the only people on the dancefloor, lovebirds. The rest of the prom court is here too."</i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>But if I just showed up at your party<i></i></i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>Would you have me?<i></i></i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>Would you want me?<i></i></i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
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          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>Karlie couldn't help but chuckle as Selena hobbled ever so slightly as she moved, she considered it payback for what Selena did to poor Martha. Taylor heard her soft giggles and looked up to give Karlie a small smile.</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>She would have admitted to Taylor that she wanted nothing more than to see that smile over and over again if that didn't seem too forward for a couple that hadn't even been on their first date yet.</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>God, she really was beautiful.</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>Taylor settled her head back into the crook of Karlie's neck, sighing comfortably as she did so. Karlie noticed Lena giving her an appreciative nod as she swayed to the music with Andrea and she gave a roguish wink in return. Several other students were slowly clapping for the prom court as they danced and, by God, the entire experience felt straight out of a dream, the greatest one Karlie had ever had, and she was floating on a cotton-candy cloud surrounded by unicorns and- oh, shit.</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"What's wrong, baby?" Taylor murmured into her neck. "Was this too much?"</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"No, this is... everything. I just made eye contact with Joe though and it's... awkward, to say the least. He looks kind of shocked and- oh, my God, Taylor! Did you not break up with him before this?"</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"I told him after you dropped me off at my house that we should take a break but then I asked him if he still wanted to go to prom with me, as friends and I guess he thought I wanted to get back together. I should fix... this over the weekend. He's a nice guy, he deserves a better breakup than thi- Martha! What about her? Are you still with her?" Taylor fretted.</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"No, Martha and I broke up a couple of weeks ago but we're trying to remain friends."</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"Oh, okay. I see," Taylor said, and Karlie thought she could detect the slightest hint of jealousy but didn't want to say anything that could ruin this incredible night. "Do you think Joe will let me keep Benjamin Button? I love him so much."</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"Who's Benja- oh, the cat. As you said, Joe's a nice guy, I'm sure he'll let you keep Benjamin."</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"Oh, that's great, I'm so excited for you to meet him. And Meredith. And Olivia."</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"He gave you three cats? Fuck, I have to spring for one of the big bouquets then," Karlie chuckled.</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"No, just one. Meredith and Olivia are family cats," Taylor explained.</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"How come I didn't get to meet them when I came over to tutor you?"</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"Because you were too busy tutoring me," Taylor answered, her tone breathy and light.</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>"We are at a school dance. But maybe next time, we'll have the time to do both," Karlie replied with a smirk.</i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>Betty, I know where it all went wrong<i></i></i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>Your favorite song was playing<i></i></i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>From the far side of the gym<i></i></i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>I was nowhere to be found<i></i></i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>I hate the crowds, you know that<i></i></i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>Plus, I saw you dance with him<i></i></i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>More students had joined in, including Martha, dancing with her friend Jourdan and Cara and Ashley, swaying gently side-by-side. Karlie noticed that Cara seemed distracted and tense, even with Ashley pressed against her and she wasn't smiling as much as one would expect at their junior prom.</i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>Fuck.</i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>There was a ramification she hadn't been thinking about.</i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>She really hadn't been thinking at all.</i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>And now she had to pay the price.</i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>Taylor lifted her head to look Karlie in the eye, her eyes shining with a renewed and gentle hope as she spoke to Karlie. "I'm still upset about what was said and I'm sure you're upset about what I said too."</i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>
                                                  <i>The only thing I wanna do<i></i></i>
                                                </i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>
                                                  <i>
                                                    <i>
                                                      <i>Is make it up to you<i></i></i>
                                                    </i>
                                                  </i>
                                                </i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>
                                                  <i>
                                                    <i>
                                                      <i>
                                                        <i>"Yeah, totally. I mean, when you turned me down, I felt terrible. I thought we had gotten closer and that we could maybe see if it could lead somewhere, and then you said no, and I felt so fucking stupid."</i>
                                                      </i>
                                                    </i>
                                                  </i>
                                                </i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>
                                                  <i>
                                                    <i>
                                                      <i>
                                                        <i>"I honestly regretted saying no to you that night. It hurt to see things go so badly, especially after we had just been so honest and open with each other, and knowing that it was because of me felt even more painful. I'm sorry I made you feel stupid, baby, you must know I think you're anything but, even if you're an idiot sometimes."</i>
                                                      </i>
                                                    </i>
                                                  </i>
                                                </i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>
                                                  <i>
                                                    <i>
                                                      <i>
                                                        <i>
                                                          <i>I'm only seventeen<i></i></i>
                                                        </i>
                                                      </i>
                                                    </i>
                                                  </i>
                                                </i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
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                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
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            <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>I don't know anything but I know I miss you<i></i></i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
                                                      </i>
                                                    </i>
                                                  </i>
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                                              </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I know you regretted it, Taylor, I believe you. It just still hurts, the rejection, and why you did it, and the lack of apology that came after."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
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    <i>
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                                                        <i>
                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Honestly, I didn't know how to apologize. You were so upset and it broke my heart- and also turned me on a little, you're really hot when you're angry, not that I want to see you angry, but you get this wild look in your eyes and your voice gets so low." Taylor purred. "But I also didn't know how to express everything cause there's so much you don't know."</i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Again, we are in a very public setting but I appreciate the compliment," Karlie told her.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
                                                      </i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Oh, you'll be getting so much more than just compliments, baby," Taylor husked. "I think we're long overdue for another tutoring session."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Agreed."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
                                                      </i>
                                                    </i>
                                                  </i>
                                                </i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"But I think we should talk first before we get to the really fun stuff. There's a lot of hurt between us and I'd hate for it to fester, especially so soon after we've reconnected. But, just for tonight, I want to celebrate," Taylor said.</i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I want that too," Karlie ratified. "And I want to know about the stuff I don't know, so this never happens to us again." </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I promise I'll tell you," Taylor replied. "I just want to have one dance with you first- I think we've earned that, haven't we?" </i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Hopefully we can go one song without drama, yeah," Karlie chuckled. "This is nice."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Yeah, it is," Taylor said gently. "Maybe over the summer, we could take one of those old people dancing lessons because I really like this." </i>
                                                            </i>
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</p><p>
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    <i>
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          <i>
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                <i>
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                                                    <i>
                                                      <i>
                                                        <i>
                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I don't know if that would be our thing, Princess. Some of them might have a heart attack trying to keep up with me."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
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                    </i>
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                </i>
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</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
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                                                      <i>
                                                        <i>
                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"We are moving at a snail's pace, you twit." </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
                                                      </i>
                                                    </i>
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                    </i>
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                </i>
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  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
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                <i>
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                                                        <i>
                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>Kissing in my car again<i></i></i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                        </i>
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                </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>Stopped at a streetlight, you know I miss you<i></i></i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                    </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>As the final notes of 'Betty' faded out, Karlie and Taylor stood in the center of the room, Taylor's head tucked under Karlie's chin and her arms wrapped securely around her waist. "I really missed you," Taylor murmured into Karlie's chest.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I missed you too, Princess."</i>
                                                            </i>
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                                      </i>
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                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
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                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Are you wearing your vanilla lip gloss right now?" Taylor asked, lifting her head from Karlie's body.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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</p><p>
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    <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Yeah," Karlie answered with a smile. "I am, why do you ask?"</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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  </i>
</p><p>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"No reason," Taylor replied before leaning in and closing the gap between her lips and Karlie's.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>Taylor's lips were soft and sweet, with a distinct taste of strawberries and champagne. It was something Karlie had felt a thousand times, be it pressed against her mouth or her neck and it was always intoxicating.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>But this was slower, honeyed, and mellow, almost as labored as the kiss they shared at Taylor's house but oh so much more gratifying. Karlie melted into the kiss, lazily exploring every inch of Taylor once more, her arms strengthening their hold on Taylor as a need to become as close and intertwined with Taylor as possible washed over her and soaked her in a new feeling of protectiveness and warmth.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                </i>
              </i>
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    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
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              <i>
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                      <i>
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                          <i>
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                              <i>
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                                  <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I can't believe that I was so dumb that I thought we'd be better off without each other," Karlie said softly against Taylor's lips.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"You can make up for it, trust me," Taylor replied before giving Karlie a second quick kiss. "In fact, you just did."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
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</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I'll make up for it again a few times tonight, but I have to know- what brought this on? What happened?"</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"It was after that night in the car. When we were about to kiss before Joe called me, I realized I had gone about this all wrong. We both made mistakes, but I hurt you first and I never did anything to make amends for it and I needed to. I broke it off with Joe and I decided that rather than telling you that I'm not judgemental or superficial, I needed to prove it. And, I'm hoping that I did," Taylor explained nervously.</i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>Nervous and flustered was simply adorable on her, from the slight blush on her cheeks to the way she fiddled with her dress. It was the same vulnerability she had seen when Taylor sang to the children, when she had opened up to Karlie about her family, when she had cried in front of her house, when she had told Karlie that she regretted what she did. It was endearing and sweet and it was nothing short of beautiful on Taylor. Vulnerability and emotion was just something she wore well, even better than her signature red lipstick or designer heels.</i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"You did, Taylor. You really did. If I'm being honest, I think I'll always be a little insecure about it, but I know, or, at least, I think that I know that you would never try to make me feel bad about it," Karlie told her. "But if you're looking to score a little extra credit, I can think of one way you can earn a few extra points..."</i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Oh, yeah?" Taylor purred, running a hand through Karlie's ochre tresses as she spoke. "And what might that be, baby?"</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"You can do my Math homework for a change," Karlie said. "I'm tired of calculus."</i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>Taylor chuckled into Karlie's chest as she moved her hand down to Karlie's waist. "God, I am so glad I didn't listen to you when you said we wouldn't work."</i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I'm glad you didn't listen to me either, that was fucking stupid of me," Karlie said with a smile as she pressed a chaste kiss to Taylor's forehead. "But, seeing as you did this for me, it's only fair that I make it up to you by taking you on a really nice, romantic date."</i>
                                                            </i>
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                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
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        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"And seeing as you're going to all that effort, it's only fair that I make it up to you by wearing a really nice, tight dress," Taylor mumbled into Karlie.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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        </i>
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  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"What is with you tonight? You're very... excited right now. Is it because of my fabulous dance moves?"</i>
                                                            </i>
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</p><p>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"Well, I've missed you," Taylor said quietly. "And, I've really missed you. Like, I missed talking to you, even though we didn't really talk about stuff, you're so funny and witty, baby."</i>
                                                            </i>
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</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
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                                                          <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I missed you too, physically, and emotionally. I never realized it whilst we were hooking up because we didn't really talk much beyond insulting each other but, God, I missed our banter and I missed the teasing and I missed the understanding so much. I just didn't realize how much at the time."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                          </i>
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                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
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          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I have something else to tell you as well," Taylor said, pulling Karlie in closer to her. "I came out to my parents."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
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                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
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          </i>
        </i>
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    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>That floored Karlie. When Taylor had so brazenly invited the other girl over to her home to do, well, what they did, she had foolishly made the assumption that Taylor's parents were aware of their daughter's sexuality. In retrospect, Taylor's parents were not home when Karlie came over, and Taylor had been extremely noncommittal when introducing Karlie to Vanessa.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
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          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
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                                                          <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"I thought you didn't like me for me. I thought- God, Taylor. I fucked up. I thought they knew. This makes a lot more sense, I'm so sorry."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
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                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
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          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
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                <i>
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                                  <i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"It's not entirely your fault. I mean, I did tell you that it was because of prom queen and I guess that wasn't exactly a lie but I don't want it to be the truth anymore. We should start this off on a much better note than we did the first time."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
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                                  <i>
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                                                    <i>
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                                                        <i>
                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>"It's okay, Karlie. We can make this work. Sacred new beginnings and all."</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
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                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
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                                      <i>
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                                                    <i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>The song had stopped playing long ago, but neither Karlie nor Taylor seemed to care. They gently swayed along to the music, which was now a fast-paced dubstep that many of their peers were dancing to. Taylor was soft and limp in her arms as they danced, and it was strangely the most intimate they had ever been with one another. She heard Taylor sigh comfortably against her body once or twice and Karlie's smile grew larger every time she did so.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
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                                                    </i>
                                                  </i>
                                                </i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
                                        <i>
                                          <i>
                                            <i>
                                              <i>
                                                <i>
                                                  <i>
                                                    <i>
                                                      <i>
                                                        <i>
                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>It was not love, obviously.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
                                                      </i>
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                                                  </i>
                                                </i>
                                              </i>
                                            </i>
                                          </i>
                                        </i>
                                      </i>
                                    </i>
                                  </i>
                                </i>
                              </i>
                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
            </i>
          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
            <i>
              <i>
                <i>
                  <i>
                    <i>
                      <i>
                        <i>
                          <i>
                            <i>
                              <i>
                                <i>
                                  <i>
                                    <i>
                                      <i>
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                                                          <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>It was nowhere near love yet.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
                                                        </i>
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                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
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  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>But Karlie could feel what was the beginning, the first twinkling of true, raw affection in her heart, deeper than what she had ever felt before, and her heart started beating just the tiniest bit faster with the first twinkling of falling for the prom queen she currently held in her arms. And when Taylor gently pressed her lips to Karlie's cheek, her teeth grazing Karlie's skin due to the large grin on her face, Karlie was convinced she had felt it too.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                                                            </i>
                                                          </i>
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                            </i>
                          </i>
                        </i>
                      </i>
                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
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          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>
          <i>
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                          <i>
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                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>
                                                            <i>There was a myriad of problems that had since arisen, some challenges and conversations the pair would have to face, some deception to be answered for and some apologies to be made. But, for now, Karlie had pushed all dangerous thoughts to the back of her mind, just for the length of one dance with her prom queen.</i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
                                                            </i>
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                    </i>
                  </i>
                </i>
              </i>
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          </i>
        </i>
      </i>
    </i>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Starlight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The dull pounding in her ears was still aching, though much less than it had when she had come home last night. Her vision was fuzzy and her head was throbbing (three cups of spiked punch and hours of loud music will do that to a person), but then her mind drifted to a softer, lighter feeling of pink, plump lips pressed against hers, of a lithe body swaying in her arms and of light blue eyes looking directly into hers, fluttering and beautiful.</p><p>Had it not been for the clothes flung haphazardly on the floor as Karlie fought a losing battle with a tidal wave of sleep, Karlie may have believed that last night's events were a dream, from Taylor's confession to their dance to the reconnection of their lips. But then she saw the slight smudges of rose lip gloss left on the collar of her shirt where Taylor's lips had met her neck and the lingering scent of Chanel perfume where Taylor had wrapped herself around Karlie, and the piece of paper sticking out from Karlie's pant pocket, where Taylor had slipped her number into Karlie's outfit before leaving.</p><p>"Pick a nice place to take me out," she instructed Karlie, arms around her waist. "And I'll pick an even nicer dress to wear."</p><p>"I'll do my best," Karlie said, trying not to sound too flustered.</p><p>"Of course you will. I believe in you, baby."</p><p>"I'll let you know tomorrow?" Karlie said, and she hated how much it sounded like a question.</p><p>"God, you're cute, baby. Yeah, let's do that. Goodbye, Karlie."</p><p>Taylor had left her after that, left her with a challenge she was determined to see through. From Taylor's final kiss goodbye, before she stepped into Andrea's car to the time she had finally let sleep take over, Karlie had been meticulously planning their first date. Even if Taylor's words still stung in the deepest crevice of her heart, Taylor had gone out of her way to prove to Karlie that she was sorry about what she had said, and now it was Karlie's turn to do the same for Taylor.</p><p>She didn't want to take her out to a restaurant, firstly because it had been a disaster the last time she asked, and secondly, because it seemed too plain after the effort Taylor had gone to for her and also because privately, she wanted to take Taylor on a date that would blow Joe and his promposal out of the water. Roses in a heart formation? A cheesy speech? A cat?</p><p>Karlie could do a far better job than that.</p><p>Well, okay, maybe she could not top a kitten, not one as adorable as the one Joe had procured- as loathe as she was to admit it- but she could be far less contrite and mawkish.</p><p>She sat up in her bed, looking out the window as if the incandescent blue sky would have the solution she needed. Whilst the thawing temperament of gentle spring had melted away lonely grey clouds and barren trees that signaled the death-like grasp of winter, the blazing heat of summer on its heels had emboldened the cerulean hues of the sky as the sickly sweetness of summer heat dripped into Nashville, as slow and meandering as the lazy flow of the Cumberland River, leaving in its trail the smile of content children free from the confines of school and a warm, syrupy breeze wafting through the air.</p><p>Karlie heard the sound of an ice-cream truck making its way down the street, the trilling lullaby getting louder as it came closer, only serving to further accentuate the dull throb in her head. Looking at the sky, it had to be past noon and looking at her phone, she realized it was almost two, which meant that she didn't have much time to plan Taylor's date and inform the other girl of their plans. After weeks of angst and hurt, all she wanted was for her and Taylor to have a nice, drama-free night together, the start of what Karlie believed to be many adventures.</p><p>An adventure.</p><p>That was exactly what she wanted to take Taylor on, but knowing of the other girl's proclivity for stilettos and false nails, she knew that she needed to accommodate Taylor's interests too. She wanted to do something to make up for everything she had said to her, whilst also doing something she would be capable of pulling off within a few hours, and something within her budget.</p><p>She thought back to last night, to the feeling of Taylor's body pressed against hers, of the graze of her lips against her cheek, and how toothy each kiss was because of the wide smile she was wearing on her face. Of how Taylor had whispered the lyrics to each song, melodic and sweet in her ear as they danced and told her how attractive she looked in a suit. However, Taylor had been pulled away from her during the last dance of the night, with Selena and Abigail wanting to dance with their friend, leaving Karlie alone, but promising to find her later.</p><p>Karlie had waved her off with a smile, resolving to meet up with her at the end of the night and set off to find Cara, only for Lena to inform her that Cara had been feeling unwell, and had left some time ago, Ashley in tow. She had hung out with Lena, Andrea, Elaine, and Joshua for the remainder of the night whilst Taylor danced with her friends. It was enjoyable, sure, but she couldn't help but feel as if Joshua and Elaine were shooting her queer looks throughout the night and were overall more reserved than they normally would have been at their prom.</p><p>Taylor had slunk back over to Karlie as the night drew to a close, finding the other girl's lips and pressing them against her own for Joshua and Elaine to see, who quickly averted their eyes and looked wholly uncomfortable. Karlie melted into the kiss, oblivious to the disgusted reactions of her friends as she reciprocated, with them quickly excusing themselves after Karlie pulled away. She had spent the last dance with Taylor wrapped in her arms and murmuring into her chest as they swayed. It was content and warm but Karlie still had a slight unease crawling in the pit of her stomach as she thought of Cara and Ashley already on their way home without so much as a goodbye.</p><p>Come the end of the night, the guilt had settled in by the time Taylor had kissed her goodbye. Karlie stood on the steps as her peers hurried by and into their cars, leaving Karlie alone and without a ride home. Cara and Ashley had left early, and she couldn't find Adana or Joshua anywhere, and Chaya, although sympathetic to Karlie's plight, had made it clear that she wanted to take her girlfriend home without any interruptions, leaving Karlie to call an Uber.</p><p>Alone.</p><p>On prom night.</p><p>She had almost considered asking Martha if she would be okay with taking Karlie home, but she noticed that her parents were taking her and Lily with them, and Martha was not about to share a car ride with Martha's parents, not after Karlie had dated their daughter and encouraged her to run a devastating prom queen campaign, only to break up with Martha for her archnemesis and kiss her right in front of her. Not to mention that Martha had seemed quite distant with her after that, but Karlie didn't want to think about all of the bridges she had burned last night.</p><p>Karlie pulled up Google, frantically searching for low budget yet romantic date ideas that she could pull off within the next few hours. Some results she liked, though most were either too cheesy, or not appealing to Karlie, and a good few of them involved Karlie bringing Taylor back to her house, which was too soon, as it would involve introducing her to Stella. Stella didn't even know about Karlie breaking up with Martha, how would she feel about Taylor? How would Karlie tell her? But she pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She and Taylor were going on their first date, and even if they had been 'a thing' for five months beforehand, one date was too soon to be meeting the family.</p><p>Failing to find any inspiration on Google, Karlie threw her phone on her bed and shuffled over to her window, as if the cheerful calamity of the street below her would provide her with the ideas she needed of what to do, of what would be enjoyable for both her and Taylor.</p><p>It was a wondrous sight, Karlie's little road. She saw herself and Cara, red-cheeked and free from elementary school for the weekend frolicking on the front lawn, chasing the white and yellow butterflies dancing above their heads in her neighbor's children doing the same thing. But then she heard Taylor in the jingle of the ice-cream truck and the swishing of the trees, calming and melodic, a certain easy happiness Karlie longed for.</p><p>This was what she wanted to capture for her and Taylor's date, not only to apologize for what she had said at the party but also to make it memorable and enjoyable. She wanted that sense of familiarity, of comfort, of pure joy, and wonder that she saw in the faces of the children. After endless complications, joyfulness in its simplest form was what she wanted for her and Taylor, something that would make them smile and provide them with a slice of a life uncomplicated by dead parents and secret relationships. Looking down at her recently cleaned pick-up truck shining under the brilliance of the sky, Karlie came to a realization.</p><p>She had the perfect date idea for Taylor.</p><p>It was simple to organize within the next couple of hours, inexpensive, but still meaningful and hopefully, Taylor would like it. Five, or even four months ago, she would have never anticipated the possibility of her and Taylor developing feelings for each other, and she especially never would have guessed they'd be going on an actual date, and that she, of all people, would be stressed and nervous and wanting to impress Taylor. A tiny, undeniable spark of hope, a glimmer of affection would have been visible, but she never would have felt so enthused nor determined to make it feel special.</p><p>But now, she was confident and light, as if she was walking on water as she floated over to her suit jacket and retrieved Taylor's number. Their dynamic had completely changed, there would be texting and involvement and it was as scary as it was invigorating. Typing Taylor's number into her phone, she drafted a text to send to Cara for approval, only to remember that Cara wasn't speaking to her, and she sent the message anyway.</p><p>K: hey, taylor. it's karlie.</p><p>K: i'll pick you up at 8 tonight?</p><p>T:Eight it is, baby.</p><p>K: as much as i hate to say this, you might want to bring a nice, long coat.</p><p>T: Should I be wearing anything underneath?</p><p>K: yes. it's going to be a little cold.</p><p>K: i'm serious taylor.</p><p>T: Well, I'm sure that you could find a way to keep me warm tonight, regardless...</p><p>K: i probably could yeah.</p><p>K: but still bring a coat because i'm not having our first date ruined by you being cold and then complaining about it all night.</p><p>T: Fine.</p><p>T: Can I ask where you're taking me, baby?</p><p>K: hmm...</p><p>K: ...no.</p><p>T: Pretty please?</p><p>K: pretty please let me keep it a surprise?</p><p>T: ...Fine.</p><p>K: i promise you're gonna like it.</p><p>K: or i hope so anyway.</p><p>K: please like it.</p><p>K: not that i'm desperate or anything.</p><p>T: Karlie, relax, I'm going to love it.</p><p>T: I'm just happy that we're finally doing this.</p><p>That single line alone brought a smile to Karlie's face, a beam outstretching and wide, so much so that she contemplated snapping a picture of her smile and sending it to Taylor, just so she knew how excited she was about their date. But then she figured it was too much, too soon, and she remembered that she hadn't yet brushed her teeth, there was last night's makeup on her face, and she was suffering from major bedhead, her brown waves resembling less a calm sea and more a tsunami. So, she sent a smiley face emoji instead and hoped that it would convey how truly excited she felt about this upcoming date. Waiting for a reply, she clicked out of her messages with Taylor and stared at her now notification-free messages, signifying that Cara had not yet responded to her message.</p><p>She couldn't exactly pretend to be mad at her friend. Karlie had lied to her, had kept something big from her, and Cara's reaction was natural, expected even. Still, she regretted the fact that she was going on a date in a few hours with a girl she really liked, and she couldn't even tell her best friend about it because they weren't speaking. Well, Karlie hoped that Cara would come around soon, defrost and let Karlie explain and apologize, but she also knew that Cara could be particularly stubborn, and therefore didn't expect immediate forgiveness, not that she would deserve it anyway.</p><p>Still, she couldn't help but reminisce and think of Cara's disastrous attempt at asking Ashley out nine months ago. After two months of shy smiles and flustered greetings in hallways, Cara told Karlie that she was going to bite the bullet and ask Ashley to go see a movie with her. She worked up the courage to do so, only for the usually confident Cara to gawk at a politely smiling Ashley for a total of thirty seconds before the other girl asked Cara to meet her at one for coffee and a walk along East Bank Landing on Saturday. Cara had nodded enthusiastically, said some words Karlie wasn't certain were part of the English language, or any language for that matter, and bounded down the hall to relay the experience to an excited Karlie, who was lurking in a nearby corridor. The pair had plotted and planned and mapped out Cara's outfit and what she could say to Ashley. Karlie was not the most romantic person by any means and neither was her friend but this was the first time she had seen her friend so invested in a love interest, and so she was more than happy to calm Cara's nerves and signal to her from the shadows when she forgot what to say.</p><p>Cara had looked an adorable mess when Karlie bade her good luck. Strands of dirty blonde hair had fallen out of a once-perfect ponytail where Cara had been nervously tugging at her waves as they walked up to Ashley. Her gait was slightly shaky, and Karlie could have sworn she saw a thin bead of sweat trickling down tanned skin.</p><p>"Come on, Cara. You can do this. It's literally so obvious that she likes you."</p><p>"I don't know, Karlie. I mean, I thought I had that History quiz in the bag and I flunked that. What if I'm wrong here?"</p><p>"She literally giggles at every stupid fucking thing you say. She's either in love with you or she's high more often than you are. Either way, she's practically your soulmate. Go."</p><p>It hurt Karlie, thinking of those simpler times where she could rely on Cara, where there were no secrets between the pair, but reflecting on the past would do no good now when she had to think to the future, especially where she and Taylor were concerned. Getting stuck on the past had hindered her relationship with Taylor before, and she knew that it would not benefit her relationship with Taylor to spend the whole night fixated on the fact that her friends hated their relationship.</p><p>She had a date to plan, and hopefully, it would be everything Taylor wanted.</p><p>*</p><p>Karlie pulled up to Taylor's home three minutes to eight, knowing that she would expect punctuality on a date. For the first time in ages, she felt her age, a shakily nervous teenager holding a bouquet of daisies in one hand and running a hand through her hair with the other as she walked up to Taylor's door.</p><p>Karlie's knuckles had barely made contact with the door before it flung open, revealing a smiling Taylor in a blue trench coat and a soft pink lip gloss that Karlie could not wait to kiss. "I pegged you for a 'give me ten more minutes' kind of girl," she joked, though she was half-serious.</p><p>"Well, I told you I was excited to spend time with you," Taylor said. "Though I did spend a long time on my hair and outfit, and makeup..."</p><p>"Oh, right! You look gorgeous, Princess, and I'm not just saying that because you wanted a compliment, you really look so pretty."</p><p>"I know, baby," Taylor replied, twirling a strand of her hair as she spoke. "You look hot, baby. I feel very lucky to be going out with you tonight."</p><p>"Shall we?" Karlie asked, offering her hand to Taylor, who nodded and accepted with a swift blush and smile.</p><p>"Bye, Vanny," Taylor called out. "Behave for Katy now!"</p><p>Karlie barely had time to ask how Vanessa was before Taylor had closed the door and captured her in a searing kiss. Pushing her against the door of Karlie's pick-up truck, Taylor wrapped herself around Karlie, whose hands dropped to Taylor's waist as she reciprocated, though she tried not to drop Taylor's bouquet.</p><p>"Hi, baby," she said again breathlessly as she pulled away. "I missed you."</p><p>"You saw me last night," Karlie replied, handing Taylor her bouquet.</p><p>"And? We have a lot of lost time to make up for," Taylor murmured, running her hands over Karlie's shirt.</p><p>"Maybe you could wait until I take you on this date before you climb all over me. It's just, I spent ages planning it out and I need to hear you tell me how amazing I am and how romantic this is and how you didn't expect me to be so sensitive and thoughtful but you absolutely love it," Karlie explained.</p><p>"I can't wait," Taylor said with a smile before gliding over to the passenger's side.</p><p>"Wait," Karlie said, stepping over and opening the car door for Taylor. "Allow me."</p><p>Taylor pressed a chaste kiss to Karlie's cheek, letting out a soft giggle before entering the car. "I had no idea you were such a gentleman," she chortled.</p><p>"I can be charming sometimes," Karlie replied.</p><p>"Really? I had no idea," Taylor said drily. "Who are you, and what have you done with my Karlie Kloss?"</p><p>It was a throwaway comment, but the deeper implication was not lost on Karlie, and she felt her heart rate perk up at the idea. A first date was far too soon to discuss feelings of love, it was too soon to even determine whether a label should now be used, even if Taylor and Karlie had been intimate with one another for several months, but the idea of them one day reaching that point was far more desirable than Karlie presently realized. And when Taylor smiled back, kind and gentle, Karlie realized that Taylor knew what she was implying too.</p><p>"So, where are you taking me, baby?" Taylor asked as Karlie started the car.</p><p>"I told you, it's a surprise," Karlie said. "I don't want to overwhelm you with how romantic I am."</p><p>She was also worried that Taylor would hate the idea as soon as she heard and it and demand that Karlie let her out of the car immediately and delete her phone number, but she didn't want to voice that particular thought aloud.</p><p>"Hmm, okay," Taylor purred. "I'm intrigued. This feels like this date will be very... unique."</p><p>"Well, I hope it is, or I'd feel like an idiot for fist-pumping the air when I came up with the idea only to find out that every other date you've ever had did the same thing."</p><p>"I'm sure nobody I've ever been with would have put half as much thought into this as you did, baby," Taylor asserted. "I'm going to love our date no matter what."</p><p>"I hope so," Karlie mumbled with a vice-like grip on the steering wheel.</p><p>"Hey," Taylor replied gently, all forcefulness gone from her voice as she spoke sweetly. "I mean that. I really am glad to be spending time with you. We could be wading through a sea of horse shit and I'd still be glad I'm with you, even if I'd be super upset about it ruining my shoes."</p><p>Karlie looked away from the road for a split second to shoot Taylor a small, affectionate smile, only for the other girl to blow her a kiss just before she directed her attention back to the road. It seemed dangerous, how much of a hold that cheeky smirk seemed to have on her, so soon.</p><p>Maybe she had fallen harder than she thought during all those months of hateful kissing.</p><p>She didn't know how to feel about that.</p><p>The pair continued down the road, with Taylor running a finger up and down Karlie's arm in an attempt at soothing the other girl. She told Karlie how beautiful she had looked in her suit last night, and how good she looked now in her leather pants and gray sweater. Karlie turned further down the winding street, away from the grand, green-hedged, and coldly statuesque houses into a more modest neighborhood, where chipped paint on mailboxes and weathered porches stood proud under the moonlight, defending their homes with a distinct honor as Karlie's dimming headlights gently passed them by.</p><p>"Just a bit further, not too long now," Karlie said, rounding another corner.</p><p>"Well, you've succeeded in making this date a surprise, baby, I have no idea where we are or what we're doing but I am excited."</p><p>"Can you close your eyes?" Karlie asked, trying her hardest to maintain her confidence.</p><p>Taylor complied, and Karlie took a deep, shaky breath before pulling up into a small dirt patch and turning off the car. "This is going to sound weird because we've stopped, but could you keep your eyes closed for a little bit longer, Princess?"</p><p>"Well, as long as you haven't brought me this far to murder me, I don't see why not," Taylor hummed.</p><p>"You should have checked before you got in the car," Karlie jested, but she pressed a soft kiss to Taylor's lips as a form of reassurance, just in case, before she stepped out of the car, basket in hand.</p><p>The park was still, with droplets of dew illuminated under the stars and moon. It was small, with a faded yellow slide attached to a climbing set, with a pair of swings in the rear. A line of houses stood near, as Karlie rolled out a picnic blanket in the back of her pick-up truck and pulled a few Hershey kisses out of her pocket and left them for Taylor. "You can open your eyes now, Taylor," Karlie said, opening the door for her.</p><p>"Here," Karlie said, helping Taylor up into the back of the ute.</p><p>"Thanks, baby. This is cozy," Taylor said as Karlie clambered in behind her and pulled her close.</p><p>"Look up," Karlie said softly to Taylor.</p><p>There was a twinkling of stars, raw and unhindered by the mellowed stream of light emitted from the houses. It wasn't something that could easily be found in a city as metropolitan and compact as Nashville, where the brightness of the stars faded into the background behind the neon signs, shining cars, and apartment building lights. Even in the quieter residential areas away from the central business district, where Taylor and Karlie lived, stars were an anomaly, heard of but not seen, where one gazed up to the moon with a distantly hopeful gleam, akin to a child searching for Santa Claus come Christmas Eve, only to find a rare fluttering of stars, and often obscured by clouds. This, however, was a rare exception, a parcel of sky untouched by modernity, left to glisten in the amaranthine sky as Taylor and Karlie sat beneath it.</p><p>"Oh, Karlie, this is gorgeous," Taylor sighed.</p><p>"Is this okay?"</p><p>"This is incredible, baby," Taylor replied, pulling Karlie in for a quick kiss. "We should start making out here instead of the front seat, it's got such a nice view."</p><p>"So, you really do like it?" Karlie mumbled, dreading how worried she sounded.</p><p>"Baby," Taylor said, and her tone was pure softness and docility as she spoke. "This is so sweet and thoughtful and romantic. You've outdone yourself here, trust me, baby. And in a little while, maybe you could invite me back to your place sometime and I can prove to you just how much I liked this date idea."</p><p>"I like the sound of that," Karlie replied, placing a kiss on Taylor's forehead.</p><p>"There you are," Taylor purred. "I just have to ask, what made you think of this? Why this place specifically?"</p><p>Karlie opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Taylor gave her a perplexed yet understanding smile and placed her hand on Karlie's arm, bringing herself closer to the other girl. "Baby, is something wrong?"</p><p>Karlie remained silent, though she pulled Taylor closer into her. It was not so much of an issue about telling Taylor the backstory behind this park, the key issue was the implication. She had opened up to Taylor before when she told her about her parents, but this was crossing a completely new threshold, one of intimacy and affection, a baby step to love.</p><p>"My dad used to take me here," Karlie began, a foreign shakiness to her voice as she spoke. "When I was younger, I was on a basketball team, obviously. Except I was never any good at it, and my teammates weren't too fond of me because of it. I felt really lonely and wanted to quit because of it, but my dad told me that a good team member doesn't let their team down by quitting, so he told me to wait it out, and then when the season finished, I could leave. I was disappointed but I agreed, so to make up for it, he took me to this park afterward. There used to be this little ice-cream truck on the corner, and he'd buy me an ice-cream and push me on the swing, and then he'd remind me not to tell my mom because she always hated it when I had dessert before dinner."</p><p>"It was sweet," Karlie continued, strengthening her hold on Taylor, who snuggled further into Karlie's chest. "And I don't know why, but out of all the memories I have of him, before... you know, these memories I have here are the most special to me."</p><p>Karlie looked down at Taylor to see a soft, caring expression on her face illuminated underneath the dim glow of the streetlamp nearby and the smattering of stars above them.</p><p>"I haven't been here in years," Karlie said quietly. "But I wanted to take you here cause... well... you're super cool."</p><p>There was a brief flash of confusion on Taylor's face as if she knew that Karlie had intended to say something else entirely. But it was soon replaced with a sweet smile, slightly unsure, but still genuine in its kindness and gentle nature as Taylor pressed a soft kiss to Karlie's cheek. "Well, I'm glad that you feel that way, but I also feel kind of bad cause you seem like a massive nerd," she teased. "But, in all seriousness, I'm so flattered that you trusted me enough to bring me here and trust me with this place. I know I said some terrible things to you, but I hope I can prove to you that I'm someone you can come to for these things, that I'm someone you can open up to like you did in my house a little while back."</p><p>The word Karlie had really intended to use was 'special'. Because Taylor really was. It was rare to find another teen her age who knew what it was like to lose a parent, and although Taylor's memories of her mother would have been limited, given that her mother died when she was six, and she never met her father, but she still knew the dull pain that was carried around years later when a loved one died, a faded stain on the heart, a muffled ringing in her ears of her mother's voice and a ceaseless knowledge that she would never see her again. But beyond her understanding of grief, Taylor was a contradiction beyond her wildest dreams, an enigma composed of a host of insecurities and fears, shrouded in a thick veneer of confidence that bordered on arrogance and aloofness that fringed on coldness and Karlie adored having the haughty, seductive persona that attracted her to Taylor and the gentle, caring, generous temperament that she felt would one day make her fall in love with Taylor blended into one, indescribable force of a woman.</p><p>Karlie opened her mouth to respond, but before she could mumble out a seemingly insincere but truly very heartfelt "me too", Taylor pulled her in for a kiss, slow and labored as if they had all the time in the world. Karlie reciprocated, her nerves dissipating as feelings of familiarity and excitement bloomed in her chest and danced in her heart. Taylor positioned herself against the back of the pick-up truck, pulling Karlie onto her lap. It was somewhat uncomfortable, with Karlie attempting to straddle Taylor in the small truck, but they settled into it soon enough with a soft giggle that morphed into a passionate kiss. Taylor's hands found Karlie's hair as Karlie settled a hand on Taylor's leg, slowly and steadily sliding it up as they continued to kiss until she had reached the hem of Taylor's lingerie.</p><p>"Wait," Taylor said softly, pressing a finger to Karlie's lips.</p><p>"Sorry, was that too far?" Karlie asked, retracting her hand.</p><p>"No, no, baby, believe me, I want to go there. It's just, we agreed that we should talk first before we reached that stage. And, I know that we almost did before, but that didn't end so well, so maybe we should wait."</p><p>Karlie gave a long and exaggerated dramatic sight before leaving Taylor's lap and curling up in her side instead. "You're right, we did agree to that, let's stick to it."</p><p>"Are you mad?" Taylor asked quietly, and Karlie hated how uncharacteristically nervous she sounded when she spoke.</p><p>"No, no, Taylor, I was just being dramatic," Karlie fretted, reaching for the other girl's hand. "I don't mind when we do it, I can wait, it's okay."</p><p>"You promise?" Taylor murmured.</p><p>"I promise," Karlie replied, and she pressed a soft, chaste kiss to Taylor's lips to prove it.</p><p>"Okay," she mumbled in response. "I think we should talk soon, but I don't know if I want to potentially ruin this incredible night, considering you put so much thought into it."</p><p>"Monday after school? You, me, this chick magnet right here. I'll take us to McDonald's drive-thru and then I'll take us to a nice car park somewhere and we can talk."</p><p>"Sounds good, baby."</p><p>"Hmm," Karlie sighed in agreement, pulling Taylor closer. "This is nice, Taylor."</p><p>"It is nice. God, why did we take so long to do this? We could have been together like this for months..."</p><p>"Months?" Karlie asked. "What do you mean?"</p><p>"Well, looking back on it now, I think I liked you more than I realize back then. I mean, we never talked much, and most of the talking was insulting, you made me laugh. I felt something with you. Do you know what I did after I went home the first time we kissed?"</p><p>"Masturbate?" Karlie joked, earning a playful scowl from Taylor.</p><p>"I laughed. Just really, really hard, because the whole thing was just ridiculous to me. Like, usually, when I kiss someone, they're all over me, kissing my ass more than they kiss my mouth and telling me how amazing I am, and you come in and say the complete opposite and we kiss and I feel a stronger chemistry with you than I have with anyone else. You told me the truth, brutally so, but you were real, and you didn't mince your words or treat me like I was fragile, and it was raw and so addicting. So, I went online, and I ordered twelve more tubes of the lipstick I was wearing that day, just to make sure that you would want to kiss me again. Also, you're really hot and a good kisser, so that was a factor too."</p><p>"Well, it worked, I really want to kiss you," Karlie replied. "But I'd never be dumb enough to treat you like you're fragile because I know that you are witty and independent and confident. But, I'm never going to assassinate your character again or say what I said under the bleachers because I know you so much better now and I know now that you are way more than just a really, really hot body and that under all that Regina George-ness, there's a really sweet person and I'm excited to be on a date with her."</p><p>"She's glad to be on a date with you too, baby."</p><p>"Oh, I forgot," Karlie said, briefly leaving Taylor's side to reach for a bag of Hershey's kisses in the corner. "In case you get sick of my kisses..."</p><p>"Well, I have worked up an appetite," Taylor said as Karlie opened the bag and offered her a chocolate. "But not for candy."</p><p>The bag of kisses was cast aside as Taylor and Karlie engaged their lips for other purposes, giggling and stroking each other's hair as they reconnected, sweet as the chocolates themselves as they embraced under the moonlight for the rest of the night.</p><p>*</p><p>Taylor's curfew was half-past eleven, she told Karlie as she checked the time. Her lipstick smeared and eyes sparkling under the stars, she kept her hand atop Karlie's for the entirety of the ride home, not bothering to check her phone once as they talked. As Karlie pulled up into Taylor's driveway, conscious not to make too much noise on a street she imagined would have strict rules about it, Taylor pulled her in for a final, earth-shattering kiss before they departed.</p><p>Karlie just hoped that none of Taylor's neighbors heard the noise that came out of Karlie's mouth when Taylor slid her hands under Karlie's shirt.</p><p>It was only when Taylor had blown Karlie a kiss under the porch light, sweet and playful, with the other girl slack-jawed at the other's beauty that it hit Karlie like a brick.</p><p>Karlie was falling too fast, too soon.</p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Love It If We Made It</h2></a>
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    <p>Taylor's lips were pressed against Karlie's neck, hurried and rough as they nipped at her clavicle, a trail of maroon hickeys adorning Karlie's throat as Taylor slid down further. As was the standard with Karlie's ute, the air conditioner was working a little too well against the beating amber sun, leaving goosebumps on both their limbs, though neither of them truly cared.</p><p>"This is a great way to start our summer vacation, isn't it, baby?" Taylor murmured against Karlie.</p><p>"Hmm," Karlie mumbled in response, arching her head back.</p><p>"Okay, baby," Taylor said, detaching her lips from Karlie's neck. "What's going on with you? You seem distracted but I don't know why."</p><p>"It's... nothing," Karlie replied quietly, not meeting Taylor's gaze.</p><p>"Karlie, you can talk to me, you know," Taylor said. "I want you to want to talk to me."</p><p>"I know, Princess, I'm okay," Karlie said again, slightly more forcefully this time, though she was careful not to become too agitated nor brusque in her response.</p><p>Taylor gave a small nod and quirk of the lips before pressing Karlie further against the seat of her car, hurried and frantic as her hand found the hem of the other girl's jeans, slowly tugging at the zipper. When Karlie wasn't responsive to Taylor's flirtations, the other girl retracted her hand removed her lips from Karlie's face. "Okay, your mind is far, far away from here right now, and I don't know why, but I can tell you're not okay, so let's talk about it, baby."</p><p>Truthfully speaking, Karlie loved seeing this side of Taylor. This side of her that perfectly balanced her passionate, desirous temperament with her much gentler, softer nature, sweet and caring. It was something that made Karlie truly believe in this relationship, that she and Taylor could be just as playful and physical as they always had been, but also depend on each other, be there for each other, just as Karlie had so forlornly relayed to Taylor only two weeks ago.</p><p>The only issue was, well, Taylor. How was she supposed to tell Taylor that her friends had been avoiding her, not only because she had lied to them, Cara most of all, but because her secret girlfriend was a not-so-secret mean girl who stuck her nose up at them? She and Taylor had the most perfect start to a relationship, which wasn't too much, given it had been a week, but she didn't want to hurt Taylor by telling her that Karlie's friends were mad at her for stepping out on them with someone whom they believed to be Public Enemy Number One.</p><p>And, well, a half-truth was better than a full-lie, Karlie reasoned in an attempt to soothe the knot of guilt in her stomach as she looked into Taylor's soft baby blue eyes. "Cara and my other friends are sort of upset with me right now. Because I lied to them for ages when I was sneaking off to see you. And I was just hoping that my summer vacation would start out... better than this. Not that it hasn't been great, you've been great, I wasn't trying to insinuate-"</p><p>"Baby, you're rambling and it's okay. I know what you were trying to say. Karlie, you could have just sat with me at lunch if you were alone. I would have liked that because I really want to introduce you to Andrea and Candice."</p><p>"But I already know them," Karlie replied.</p><p>"Yeah, but I want to formally introduce you. As my girlfriend, if that's okay. I think we've waited long enough after all this fucking around and I'd love to show off how much hotter and smarter you are compared to their boyfriends. Like, Andrea's started dating this absolute moron named Justin, he's new and on the football team and she thinks that he's the whole package and he's ugh..."</p><p>There was a gleam in Taylor's eyes that Karlie noticed as she spoke, one she saw when Taylor was singing with the children at the hospital and dancing with her at prom. But when Karlie didn't respond, her face fell and Karlie rushed to pull Taylor closer into her and murmur in her ear.</p><p>"Is that something you don't want?" Taylor said, and Karlie could tell that she was pretending not to be affected, but her tone still wavered with hurt.</p><p>"It's nothing like that, Princess," Karlie explained softly. "It's not the idea I don't like. I mean, I'm sure I could probably warm up to Candice, but Andrea was terrible to Martha, she completely humiliated her for no reason at all, and I don't really see myself getting along with her anytime soon. Is that okay?"</p><p>Taylor was silent for a moment, and Karlie could see the faintest hint of disappointment in the shadows of her face before she resumed straddling Karlie's lap. "Yeah, it's okay," she murmured, and to prove it, she pulled Karlie in for a kiss, passionate yet slow. Karlie responded lazily, wrapping her arms around Taylor's waist and slipping her tongue between her lips.</p><p>It was sweet and languid as the strokes of sunlight that painted the worn-down car, slow and stumbling, almost clumsy in its affection but vehement and passionate in conveying every feeling of enchantment, delight, and sheer infatuation. Taylor's hands were lost under Karlie's shirt, skimming the tanned expanse of skin beneath the fabric and slowly working up to the clasp of her bra whilst Karlie's lips were pressing unhurried, delicate kisses on Taylor's neck, dragging her mouth closer to Taylor's b-</p><p>And then her phone rang.</p><p>"Do you need to take it?" Taylor groaned as Karlie reached for her pocket and checked the caller. </p><p>Ashley.</p><p>She did not know if she preferred Ashley or Cara at this point.</p><p>"I'm really sorry, Taylor but I have to take this call. Alone, if you wouldn't mind," Karlie said nervously.</p><p>"That's a shame, baby, cause I was really hoping you'd be able to help me slip out of my cheerleading uniform, but I understand. Are you free next Sunday? Cause there's something I'd really like to do with you."</p><p>Karlie smirked. "How much clothing is going to be involved in this thing?" she asked in response. </p><p>"Fully clothed because that's not what I meant. Talk to Ashley and call me later, baby," Taylor said before pressing a kiss to Karlie's cheek. "Goodbye, baby. I'll be waiting for your call, baby, and if you want to get to do the really fun stuff with me, I recommend that you don't delay. But seriously, Karlie, I hope that things go okay with Ashley and I do want you to call me after, especially if you need to talk about it."</p><p>Karlie pulled Taylor in for a kiss, sweet and sincere, wrapping her arms around Taylor's waist until the cheerleader pulled away. "Baby, don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying this, but you just missed that call and I don't think that ignoring Ashley's calls is going to help your cause here. Trust me, I will definitely continue this later, but right now, you need to work on your friendship here."</p><p>"You're really smart, you know that, Taylor?" Karlie sighed, a small smile on her lips.</p><p>"I know," Taylor replied, distancing herself from Karlie as she slid out of the car.</p><p>"I'll talk to you later, Princess. I hope you can last the next however many minutes without my fingers, I know it will be tough for you," Karlie teased.</p><p>"Oh, I'll manage, baby. The real question is whether you'll be able to enjoy touching yourself again after touching me."</p><p>"Don't tempt me," Karlie said, and her tone was playful when she said it, but she had half a mind to reach out and pull the other girl back into her car, phone calls be damned.</p><p>Who would want to listen to their friends guilt trip them when they could make out with their girlfriend instead?</p><p>Karlie must have reached out to Taylor without knowing it because she felt a gentle push and realized that she had indeed been leaning over to reach out to Taylor, and the other girl was lightly shoving her back.</p><p>"We're going to have a whole summer together to hang out," Taylor said with a smile, her amusement dancing on her face, clear as the ribbons of sunlight that cut through the blue sky. "I'll make plenty of time for this later, but you have to talk to Ashley now."</p><p>"I promise I'll call you later," Karlie said.</p><p>"I know, baby. Now hurry up and close the door before I feel tempted to jump back into the car and onto you."</p><p>"Bye, Taylor," Karlie replied, closing the door as Taylor turned to walk back to her car.</p><p>Ashley hadn't called back, and Karlie was wondering if she should initiate the call or just let it be, but then remembered that the longer she let this fester, the more she and her friends would hurt, and so she pressed the call button.</p><p>"Hi, Ashley," Karlie said quietly when the ringing had been replaced with breathing. "How are you?"</p><p>"I'm fine," came the uncharacteristically cold reply. "Is she with you?"</p><p>Karlie winced before muttering a quick "no" in response. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins, her body alert and on fire as Ashley's icy tone cut through the air, chilling and loveless. "How's Cara?" Karlie mumbled, dreading the response.</p><p>"Cara is doing as well as she can for someone who found out that her alleged 'best friend' lied to her for who fucking knows how long so she could make out with her enemy," Ashley snapped.</p><p>"Cara and Taylor aren't enemies," Karlie defended weakly.</p><p>"She's a total bitch, Karlie, I don't get what you see in her. She's stuck-up and rude and she thinks she's better than everyone else and she's such a bitch to you too, Karlie."</p><p>"You don't know her like I do. She's actually really sweet, and she has a younger sister who she adores and she sings to children in hospitals and-"</p><p>"Jesus, Karlie, she has... some kind of sick hold... on you. You were never like this a few months ago and now, what, she makes out with you at prom for whatever reason and you're suddenly all over her."</p><p>Just as Karlie was going to respond, the sound of her heavy breathing and Ashley's noncommittal grunts were broken up by a car horn. She looked up to see Taylor in her car, a short distance away, a faint smile on her face. Taylor leaned over the car door and blew the other girl a kiss before motioning for Karlie to call her later. Karlie responded with a slight smile and a weak wave before her girlfriend repositioned herself and drove away.</p><p>"Karlie?" Ashley interrupted. "What, you're not lost in a daydream about her, are you?"</p><p>If Ashley's tone wasn't so scathing, Karlie would have laughed at the sarcasm. It was the closest thing to friendliness that had been achieved during the past week and for a brief moment, Karlie felt as if things were back to normal between them. But then she remembered that Ashley's mordacious comment was coming at the expense of her relationship with Taylor, her girlfriend, and the cheerful nature of Karlie's mind dissipated into the thick summer air as a wave of heat flooded her body, scorching and enraged.</p><p>"So, what if I was? She's my girlfriend and she's honestly incredible. If you got to know her, you would realize that she's honestly super sweet, she just doesn't show it as much. Did you not see what she did for me at prom?"</p><p>"You mean, what she did after she won prom queen and was certain it wouldn't impact her popularity or whatever? She doesn't care about you, Karlie, and I don't know what she's doing with you but Taylor Swift is only there for Taylor Swift. I'm mad at you and so is Cara, but we still care about you and I don't think this healthy. Taylor has been awful to you and you sound like you're in love with her!"</p><p>"You know what, Ashley? You keep calling Taylor a bitch but you're the one making all of these assumptions about Taylor without actually getting to know her. At first, yeah, it was cruel but then we realized that we were attracted to each other and we started kissing and it was more playful flirting than intent to hurt. But you know what? There is nothing that Taylor could say to me that would be more hurtful than my supposed 'friend' thinking that I'm so dumb and weak that my girlfriend is using me and manipulating me and I'm helpless to stop it."</p><p>"Karlie, you're re-"</p><p>"No, I'm not done. Yeah, Taylor's done some shitty stuff in the past but if you gave her a chance, she would make it up to you. I didn't expect you guys to immediately become friends but I was hoping you guys could at least be civil. I'm not in love with Taylor but I feel like I could fall in love with her and it would be the easiest thing I've ever done. She's honestly an amazing person and it's disappointing that my friends think that this relationship is so toxic even though they know nothing about it!"</p><p>"You're the reason we don't know anything about it, Karlie. You chose to lie to us," Ashley said coolly.</p><p>And it was the truthfulness of that statement that hurt the most.</p><p>"Because I didn't want this kind of reaction!" Karlie snapped. "I'm sorry that I lied to you and I'm sorry that I hurt you, I really am and I wish that I had handled this situation differently but I knew that you guys would judge me and I liked Taylor and I didn't want to have to choose."</p><p>"What about poor Martha, Karlie? What, did she think that you were genuinely interested in her only for you to pine over Taylor like a lovesick puppy just like every other idiot in the school? Were you hooking up with Taylor whilst you were with Martha?"</p><p>"I would never cheat, and I can't believe you would think I'm even remotely capable of that, Ashley! Taylor and I had an argument and stopped talking for a while and then I started talking to Martha. Zero cheating. Martha overheard Taylor and I fighting at Taylor's party and she figured out that I still had feelings for Taylor, and we split up but remained friends."</p><p>"Poor Martha," Ashley said. "Well, when you figure out your priorities, come find your friends and apologize to them."</p><p>The line went dead just as Karlie was about to scream.</p><p>In all their time together, Karlie and Ashley had never spoken an ill word and in all their years of friendship, Cara and Karlie had never had an argument of this magnitude. Small scuffles and disputes certainly but they always worked it out in a day or two at most. She understood why her friends were mad at her, she would be too if the shoe was on the other foot, but she was also naively thinking that her friends would be happy for her, and impressed that she won over a total babe like Taylor. As much as she never thought the moment would come, Karlie briefly hoped that her friends were more like Andrea and Candice, both of whom accepted Taylor with the blink of an eye. And why? Taylor had been just as deceitful as Karlie. Taylor had been just as secretive as Karlie. Taylor had- oh, shit.</p><p>She was jealous of Taylor, goddamnit.</p><p>She did not want to be envious of her girlfriend, and for the most part, she felt relieved that Taylor didn't have to endure the same anger from her friends as she was dealing with from hers. Still, she could not help but feel a little resentful of the other girl, who had lied to her friends just as much as Karlie had and received virtually zero consequences for it. Not that Karlie would want her to, but it was a matter of principles, really.</p><p>Shoving that hateful thought out of her mind (for the time being), Karlie revved her pickup truck and drove as far away from the school as possible.</p><p>On a normal day, she would usually pick Stella up from bingo, but for reasons unbeknownst to Karlie, her grandmother had insisted that she would make her own way home today. Karlie was confused but didn't mind. In the end, it just meant the sooner she could reach home, and thus the sooner she could call Taylor.</p><p>Not even bothering to stop for her usual coffee, Karlie rushed home, a call with Taylor and then a long, relaxing bath on her agenda. Every passing second that was spent stuck in congestion or behind the traffic lights felt like a moment with Taylor wasted, and Karlie's skin was still prickling with searing anger.</p><p>When she finally got home, Karlie nearly tripped over a recently-adopted Snickerdoodle in order to get to her bedroom. She yelled out apologies to her dog as she stumbled up the staircase, grabbing for her phone as she opened the door and flung her bag onto the carpet. It had felt like forever since Karlie had spoken to Taylor and she wouldn't be surprised if the other girl had forgotten all about her. Still, Karlie dialled Taylor's number and hesitantly held the phone to her ear, only for Taylor to pick up on the first ring.</p><p>"Hey, baby," Taylor said gently. "How did it go?"</p><p>"You picked up really quick," Karlie replied. "I had you down for a 'keep-em-waiting' type of girl." </p><p>"I told you I was waiting for you to call me. If anyone here is a 'keep-em-waiting' type of girl, it's you, baby. Now, how did that talk with Ashley go?"</p><p>"Not particularly well," Karlie sighed, flopping onto her bed. "She's really mad at me and so is everyone else. God, I wish I had gone about this a different way..."</p><p>"I'm sorry, baby. This is kind of my fault too, I told you not to tell them."</p><p>"I wouldn't have told them anyway, I was fine with keeping a secret when nobody knew and I didn't have to think about the consequences but now that everyone knows I feel like I should have been more honest from the beginning. And besides, you weren't out yet. It would have been risky."</p><p>"They're still your closest friends, Karlie, they'll come around. I'm sure of it."</p><p>"I'm hoping they will but Ashley was fuming and the others are just ignoring me."</p><p>"Well, if they don't come around then I think they're idiots because you're so incredible, Karlie. You're so fit and hot and you're such a good kisser..."</p><p>"Those aren't really 'friendly' attributes, Princess," Karlie countered, a small smile on her face.</p><p>"No? Well, you also have a really good sense of humor, and you're funny, you're witty, you're smart, you have a really pretty smile and I really enjoy spending time with you, both when we're talking and when we're kissing. I know we haven't done much of the talking yet, but I'd like for us to get there."</p><p>Everything Taylor just said about her was complimentary but that last comment made Karlie's heart soar. It assuaged feelings Karlie didn't know she had in her, residual doubt and worries that Ashley might be right about Taylor, and expelled them from her mind.</p><p>"You're... something else, Taylor," Karlie chuckled. "I'm glad we finally got our shit together, I really like you. Definitely more than I expected at least."</p><p>"I like you too, Karlie," Taylor said quietly. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better, baby?"</p><p>"I could use something to take my mind off Ashley," Karlie suggested. "Did you have any plans for us over the summer break?"</p><p>"Well, now that you mention it, there was something in particular that I wanted..." Taylor trailed off, and Karlie could practically see the smirk on her face as she closed her eyes and let Taylor's voice soothe her. "You know back in your car before prom when you mentioned you servicing my car and me, well, generously tipping you for it later? Well, I know I only had it in there a couple of weeks ago, but it could use a touchup and I need a mechanic with good, strong, capable hands to do it."</p><p>"I'll see if I can make a time for you," Karlie replied. "Anything else?"</p><p>"Come to the hospital with me some time," Taylor said. "Then I want to take you to this really nice cafe afterward."</p><p>"That sounds nice, babe."</p><p>"I'm glad you think so. Is there anything you want to do? Because I've been waiting for you to ask me out on another date ever since that amazing trip to the park together."</p><p>"I have a few surprises," Karlie said with a playful chuckle.</p><p>"You sound very confident, baby," Taylor replied with a giggle.</p><p>Karlie had read 'Romeo and Juliet' for school once and had seen 'Notting Hill'. She liked to watch 'Love, Actually' come the holiday season and when she was younger, she and Cara used to sit in their bedrooms and plan out their princess weddings to their Prince Charmings. That did not mean she was fond of every hackneyed adage she read under a couples' Instagram post or on Tumblr and she most certainly did not enjoy turning into a walking cliché herself.</p><p>That did not stop her brain from informing her that Taylor's giggle was beyond cute. Like, Snickerdoodle wearing a guilty expression on his face after chewing on Stella's slippers level cute.</p><p>The rest of their conversation fell into flirtatious remarks and witty banter, with chuckles and laughs being shared and any thought of Karlie's talk with Ashley drifting out of her mind for the time being. The cerulean sky danced from shades of azure to a xanthous yellow, a delicate pink before settling on a boundless plum broken up by hundreds of blinking bright lights as they spoke.</p><p>"I have to go down for dinner now, baby, but I'll speak to you tomorrow."</p><p>"It won't be as much fun as talking to me, but okay, Princess. Can you tell how hard I'm really trying to sell myself for that tip? I'll call you tomorrow and schedule you in for a car servicing."</p><p>"Good night, Karlie," Taylor said with a giggle.</p><p>"Good night, Taylor," Karlie said, much gentler this time.</p><p>Taylor blew a kiss into the phone before hanging up, leaving Karlie to stare up at the brilliant night sky, only for her stomach to remind her that it was dinnertime for her too. And Stella, who still wasn't home. Karlie would be lying if she said it wasn't concerning for her, she knew that Stella was an adult and that the hospital would have contacted her if anything had happened to her, but this was very much unlike her grandmother.</p><p>Karlie reached for her phone, preparing to send Stella a text, or maybe even call her but she was interrupted by the sound of a car pulling up to the house. It was Stella, obviously, but she wasn't alone. She was accompanied by a gentleman- a gentleman, Karlie's mind provided. Her grandmother hadn't been with another man since Karlie's grandfather died, and it was a pleasant surprise for Karlie to see her grandmother finding a connection with someone again.</p><p>The man said something, and Karlie didn't know what it was, but it resulted in Stella giggling. Giggling. Like a schoolgirl. Like Taylor. He pressed a quick kiss to Stella's cheek, and Karlie didn't have to be able to see her grandmother's face particularly well to know that she was blushing.</p><p>It was adorable.</p><p>Stella said her goodbyes to her partner, who ambled down the path and back to his car as Stella moved in the opposite direction. Snickerdoodle's barking signified that Stella was nearing the door, and Karlie was determined to greet her grandmother and uncover as much information as possible about this mystery man.</p><p>"Hi, Nan," Karlie said as Stella came through the door. "You're home late, young lady."</p><p>"Oh, I was out with my friend Victor...ria," Stella stammered. "Bingo tournament lasted longer than I thought it would, otherwise I would have messaged.</p><p>"Sure, Nan," Karlie replied, Stella's confusion at the bizarre response only making her smile wider.</p><p>As she jogged back up the stairs, Snickerdoodle eagerly bounding behind her, she could not help but laugh at her grandmother's predicament and what a truly awful liar she was. Still, she was happy her grandmother was happy, even if her grandmother was not prepared to divulge anything yet. Things were truly looking up for the Klosses. </p><p>For now.</p>
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